NSW Perinatal Data Collection
The NSW Perinatal Data Collection (PDC), formerly the NSW Midwives Data Collection (MDC), is a population-based surveillance system covering all births in NSW public and private hospitals, as well as homebirths. The PDC is a statutory data collection under the NSW Public Health Act 2010.
The PDC encompasses all live births, and stillbirths of at least 20 weeks gestation or at least 400 grams birth weight. Prior to 2006 the PDC encompassed all births of at least 20 weeks gestation or at least 400 grams birth weight. The data collection has operated since 1987 but with population coverage since 1990.
For every birth in NSW the attending midwife or medical practitioner completes a notification form (latest version for 2011: http://internal.health.nsw.gov.au/data/collections/mdc/NSWH%20Perinatal%20Data.pdf ), or its electronic equivalent, giving demographic, medical and obstetric information on the mother and the condition of the infant. The PDC form was revised in 1998, 2006, 2011, and 2016.
There are several source systems that generate the PDC data. In 2020, all PDC notifications were received electronically from public and private hospitals obstetric information systems. Electronically submitted records were received by secure upload to the state database. Historically, a proportion of records were received via completed paper forms that were submitted to the System Information and Analytics Branch of the NSW Ministry of Health, where they were compiled into the PDC database.
There are several electronic systems that generate the PDC data including eMaternity and Cerner in public hospitals and a variety of systems in private hospitals. eMaternity is the most commonly used maternity information system in public hospitals in NSW.
Table 1. Perinatal Data Collection Notification Sources, NSW 2020
| Notification source | Local Health District or Hospital |
Per cent of PDC records 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Electronic | ||
|
eMaternity
|
All public hospitals in South Eastern Sydney, Illawarra Shoalhaven, Hunter New England, Nepean Blue Mountains and Western Sydney Local Health Districts, as well as some hospitals in Murrumbidgee, Southern NSW, Western NSW and Far West Local Health Districts for part of 2017. |
58.3 |
| Cerner | Public hospitals in Sydney and South Western Sydney Local Health Districts. | 18.8 |
| Meditech | Ramsay Private Hospitals - North Shore Private Hospital, Westmead Private Hospital, St George Private Hospital, Kareena Private Hospital and Wollongong Private Hospital. | 7.5 |
| Sydney Adventist Obstetric Information System | Sydney Adventist Hospital | 1.7 |
| Healthscope | Healthscope hospitals - Prince of Wales Private Hospital, Norwest Private Hospital, Sydney South West Private Hospital, Nepean Private Hospital and Newcastle Private Hospital | 7.2 |
| The Mater Hospital database | The Mater Hospital, North Sydney | 2.7 |
| Northern Beaches Hospital database | Northern Beaches Hospital | 1.9 |
| Total | 100 |
Note: The total from these sources is slightly below 100% as independent midwives and hospitals with small numbers of births report using PeriForm. These figures are not included.
The information sent to the NSW Ministry of Health is checked and compiled into one statewide dataset. One record is reported for each baby, even in the case of a multiple birth. The PDC includes notifications of births which occur in NSW which includes women whose usual place of residence is outside NSW and who give birth in NSW; it does not receive notifications of interstate births where the mother is resident in NSW. The collection is based on the date of birth of the baby. In 2018 there were a number of records with missing information that has resulted in a fluctuation in trends for analyses of subgroups.
Data are reported by calendar year. The PDC was accessed via SAPHaRI.