Western Australian Midwives' Notification System (WA PDC)Midwives are required to provide the WA Department of Health with notifications of cases (births) attended. The midwife usually completes the form, however a medical officer may do so in the absence of a midwife. If no midwife or medical officer was present at the birth then the first qualified person to attend the woman should complete the form. Notifications are received predominantly via electronic data transmission, with the remainder (less than 100 per year) received in paper format. The information received in paper format is transcribed into a coded format. Western Australia’s statutory reporting requirements are outlined in the WA Health Act 1911, section 335. Under the Health Regulations 1994, midwives are required to provide the WA Department of Health with notifications of cases attended. The WA PDC receives data for any birth of at least 20 weeks gestation, or when the gestation is unknown, where the birth weight is at least 400 grams, including all live births and stillbirths. Information on women resident in WA who gave birth outside Western Australia are not included. The collection contains information on women who gave birth in WA and their babies. There is a one to two year delay between the data collected and the publication, more commonly a two year gap. The most recent publication of Western Australia’s Mothers and Babies (previously Perinatal Statistics Western Australia) was May 2015 using data from 2012 with the 2013 data due to be released in 2016. Western Australia’s Mothers and Babies is produced annually. The Maternal and Child Health personnel, check the data for completeness and, if necessary, follow-up for additional details. Completeness of case ascertainment for scope of WA PDC is validated against other data collections.
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