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Table 1 Correspondence between OPCS procedure delivery codes and maternity taildelmethdelivery codes

From: Evaluating maternity care using national administrative health datasets: How are statistics affected by the quality of data on method of delivery?

OPCS code

Delmeth code

Method of delivery description

R17

7

Elective caesarean section

R18, R25.1

8

Emergency caesarean section

R19, R20

5, 6

Breech vaginal delivery

R21

2, 3

Forceps delivery

R22

4

Vacuum delivery

R23, R24

0, 1

Cephalic vaginal delivery without instruments

R25.2, R25.8, R25.9

9

Other method of delivery, including destructive operation to facilitate delivery

  1. Both coding systems define elective caesareans as prelabour caesarean sections and emergency caesareans as intrapartum caesarean sections.