Dattani Nirupa, Macfarlane Alison
Centre for Maternal and Child Health Research, City, University of London, London, UK.
BMJ Open. 2018 Feb 15;8(2):e017897. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-017897.
Maternity Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data for 2005-2014 were linked to birth registration and birth notification data (previously known as NHS Numbers for Babies or NN4B) to bring together some key demographic and clinical data items not otherwise available at a national level. The linkage algorithm that was previously used to link 2005-2007 data was revised to improve the linkage rate and reduce the number of duplicate HES records.
Birth registration and notification linked records from the Office for National Statistics ('ONS birth records') were further linked to Maternity HES delivery and birth records using the NHS Number and other direct identifiers if the NHS Number was missing.
For the period 2005-2014, over 94% of birth registration and notification records were correctly linked to HES delivery records. Two per cent of the ONS birth records were incorrectly linked to the HES delivery record and 5% of ONS birth records were linked to more than one HES delivery record. Therefore, a considerable amount of time was spent in quality assuring these files.
The linkage rate for birth registration and notification records to HES delivery records steadily improved from 2005 to 2014 due to improvement in the quality and completeness of patient identifiers in both HES and birth notification data.
2005年至2014年的妇产医院病历统计数据（HES）与出生登记及出生通知数据（以前称为婴儿国民保健服务号码或NN4B）相链接，以整合一些关键的人口统计学和临床数据项，这些数据在国家层面上无法通过其他方式获取。之前用于链接2005年至2007年数据的链接算法进行了修订，以提高链接率并减少重复的HES记录数量。
如果缺少国民保健服务号码，则使用国民保健服务号码和其他直接标识符，将国家统计局的出生登记和通知链接记录（“国家统计局出生记录”）进一步链接到妇产医院HES分娩和出生记录。
在2005年至2014年期间，超过94%的出生登记和通知记录与HES分娩记录正确链接。2%的国家统计局出生记录与HES分娩记录错误链接，5%的国家统计局出生记录与多个HES分娩记录链接。因此，在确保这些文件质量方面花费了大量时间。
由于HES和出生通知数据中患者标识符的质量和完整性得到改善，2005年至2014年期间出生登记和通知记录与HES分娩记录的链接率稳步提高。
