Since June 2012, the CEMD has been carried out by the MBRRACE-UK (Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries) collaboration, commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP).

Furthermore, each MBRRACE-UK report now contains the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Morbidity (CEMM), a study focusing on women who survived severe pregnancy problems, with the topic chosen in an open application process.

[7] Maternal deaths during this period were particularly prevalent in poor, working-class families, thus a large part of these early local enquiries was focused on the social backgrounds of the women who died.

Since its inception, the overall aims of the enquiry have been:[9] In Northern Ireland, a similar report to the CEMD was published from 1956 to 1984, initially covering four years of maternal deaths at a time.

However, due to falling maternal death rates in the country, the final reports covered a larger period of time.

[7] Currently, the agency NIMACH (Northern Ireland Maternal and Child Health) is responsible for collecting and analysing data in support of MBRRACE-UK.

The CEMD collects and processes anonymous data of every maternal death in the UK and Ireland before they are looked at by several of the MBRRACE-UK expert assessors.

[13][15][16] Despite the overall fall, the researchers claimed there are 'key areas that the health service can look to improve in order to reduce the number of maternal deaths from these indirect causes'.

Furthermore, rapid administration of intravenous antibiotics and escalating the care of the woman to senior doctors and midwives quickly were considered essential.

[14] In addition to the full report, MBRRACE-UK publishes an executive summary listing separate key areas for action for policy-makers, medical directors, doctors and midwives.