To ask the Minister of Health how miscarriage rates are recorded.

There is no central recording of pregnancy loss numbers or rates. Estimates are often used and applied to population figures to provide a population estimate as not all pregnancy losses will be known to healthcare providers.

Pregnancy loss may be recorded on a number of information systems including Trust Patient Administration Systems (PAS), GP clinical systems and NIMATS (Northern Ireland Maternity Systems). The Trust PAS will capture people who require hospital admission for management of pregnancy loss or ectopic pregnancy. Early pregnancy clinics will record attendance at a clinic but not the outcomes and not all those who attend will have a pregnancy lost confirmed. GP clinical information systems will record pregnancy loss – but only if the GP knows about it and this may not always be the case.