Digital Maternity Record Standard
An information standard for maternity services, to ensure that maternity record information is consistently captured and as a result can be shared more easily across health care systems.
About this standard
- Publisher
- NHS England
- Reference code
- DCB3066 Amd 112/2018
- Publication date
- 18/11/2019
- Status
- Active
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Active. Active standards are stable, maintained and have been approved, assured or endorsed for use by qualified bodies.
Deprecated Deprecated standards are available for use and are maintained, but are being phased out, so new functionality will not be added.
Retired standards Retired standards are not being maintained or supported and should not be used.
- Standard type
- Information standards
Show definitions of standard types
Collections. A Collection is a systematic gathering of a specified selection of data or information for a particular stated purpose from existing records held within health and care systems and electronic devices.
Extractions. An extraction is a type of collection that is pulled from an operational system by the data controller and transmitted to the receiver without additional processing or transcription by the sender.
Information standards. Information standards are agreed ways of doing something, written down as a set of precise criteria so they can be used as rules, guidelines, or definitions.
Technical Standards and specifications. Technical standards and specifications specify how to make information available technically including how the data is structured and transported.
- Contact point
Link to standard
- Documentation
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- Applies to
- Maternity service providers MUST implement the entire record standard.
- Ultrasonography service providers MUST implement the ScanReport Heading.
- Other providers involved in a pregnancy episode MAY implement the standard.
- Maternity staff MUST work with local informatics teams to ensure implementation.
- Impacts on
- Implementation of this information standard impacts all health IT systems suppliers providing systems to the above providers; suppliers should work with their customers to determine necessary changes.
Topics and care settings
- Topic
- Care records
- Demographics
- Patient communication
- Referrals
- Tests and diagnostics
- Care setting
- Community health
- Hospital
- Maternity
- Social care
- Urgent and Emergency Care
Dependencies and related standards
- Dependencies
- Healthy Child Record Providers should become compliant with the DCB3009 Healthy Child Record standard when recording information which ultimately needs to be held within a baby's record.
- NHS Data Model and Dictionary Where SNOMED CT codes are not appropriate, national coding from the NHS Data Model and Dictionary has been used.
- SNOMED CT This standard needs to be reviewed and implemented alongside SNOMED CT where appropriate. The recording supplier system must be compliant with the SNOMED CT codes set out within the Maternity Record Standard Data Model Specification.
- Healthy Child Record
- Related standards
This standard relates to:
Review Information
- Scope
- NHS Services
- Sponsor
Martin Dennys, Programme Director for Digital Maternity, NHS Digital
- Senior Responsible Officer
Polly Bishop, Director for Digital Experience, NHSX
- Business Lead
- Roger Carter, Programme Manager, NHS Digital
- Contributor
- Professional Record Standards Body
- Approval date
- 15/11/2019
- Post Implementation review Date
- 30/11/2021
Legal basis and endorsements
- Legal authority
Section 250 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012
This information standard is published under section 250 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012
More information
NHS Digital has been collaborating with midwives, obstetricians, nurses and other clinicians to create the maternity record standard, which relates to direct patient care, describing the optimal data structure and format of a maternity record.
This information standard, DCB3066, provides for local implementation of this maternity record within maternity services and supplier systems, to enable the future exchange of information between maternity providers.
This will ensure that both health and care professionals and maternity service users have the necessary information in the right place at the right time, to improve the quality and safety of maternity care.
The standard will also support maternity service users by enabling more personalised care, as well as helping midwives and clinicians to provide holistic care.
Following a previous announcement in April 2020 that the compliance date had been extended to 28 February 2021, it has now been decided that, given the continued pressures on maternity services, the compliance date with this information standard is on hold until further notice.
Page last updated: 24 May 2024