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Written question asked by Bob Russell (Liberal Democrat) on Friday, 5 December 2014, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 9 December 2014. It was answered by Dan Poulter (Conservative) on Monday, 15 December 2014 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Multiple Births

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the average cost to the NHS of caring for a multiple pregnancy from conception through to the discharge home of mother and babies; and what the average tariff received by a trust for care in a multiple pregnancy was in the last 12 months.

Answer

For payment purposes, there are three separate pathway currencies covering different stages of maternity care: antenatal, delivery and postnatal. A lead provider receives a pathway price to cover the costs for the bundles of care they deliver at each of these stages. The price level is determined by patient complexity.

If a woman has one or more of the intensive resource characteristics, such as expecting twins, she is allocated to the intensive pathway for the non-delivery phases, irrespective of any other factors. The income received by the provider is the relevant tariff price multiplied by the organisation’s Market Forces Factor payment value.

Further information on the maternity pathway payment system can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/300549/Annex_4A_Additional_info_on_currencies_with_national_prices.pdf

2014-15 tariff - maternity pathway

Delivery phase

Code

Name

Outpatient procedure tariff (£)

Combined day case / ordinary elective / non-elective spell tariff (£)

Long stay trimpoint (days)

Per day long stay payment (for days exceeding trimpoint) (£)

n/a

With complications and co-morbidities

-

2,188

7

371

n/a

Without complications and co-morbidities

-

1,496

5

371

Non-delivery phases

Antenatal phase

Code

Name

Tariff (£)

n/a

Intensive

2,822

Postnatal phase

Code

Name

Tariff (£)

n/a

Intensive

805

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
217334
Session
2014-15
Related items
Multiple Births
Wednesday, 18 March 2015
Written questions
House of Commons
Multiple Births
Wednesday, 18 March 2015
Written questions
House of Commons
Subjects
Costs Multiple births
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk