National Perinatal Reporting System (NPRS)

Data Collection Type
National data collections of health and social care in Ireland
Organisation

Healthcare Pricing Office

Year established

1969 — pilot.
1970s — rolled out to all acute public hospitals.

Statement of purpose

To maintain a timely accurate national database of key perinatal indicators over time. Collection, processing, management and reporting of data on all births nationally that meets the needs of the data users (including policy-makers, clinical teams and researchers), through the development and support of the system.

Coverage

All maternity hospitals/departments and independent midwives report to NPRS covering 100% of births in Ireland.

Description

The National Perinatal Reporting System (NPRS) has as its principal aim the provision of national statistics on perinatal events.

Data content

The information collected includes: data on pregnancy outcomes (with particular reference to perinatal mortality and important aspects of perinatal care); descriptive social and biological characteristics of mothers giving birth.

Data providers

Irish maternity hospitals/departments and independent midwives.

Data collection methodology

All births are registered and notified on a standard four-part birth notification form which is completed where the birth takes place. Part three of this paper form is sent to the HPO office for data entry and validation. Approximately 40% of hospitals submit data electronically to the NPRS system.

Data dictionary
Clinical coding scheme

International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) for the coding of morbidity and mortality data.

Size of national collection

Approximately 66,000 records created on average annually.

Publication frequency

Perinatal Statistics Report. Annual reports published on HPO website. 

Accessing data

NPRS datasets are provided to a number of state agencies in order to address specific data requirements. Data requests can be submitted to nprs@hpo.ie directly. In addition, annual reports on perinatal statistics on the HPO website.

Open data portal access

Yes

Email contact
Telephone contact
Other comments

Between 1990 and 2013 the NPRS was managed by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).