MATERNITY services in Worcestershire have been awarded £340,000 of funding from the national Digital Maternity Fund to further improve digital maternity services.
Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is one of many NHS Trusts across the country which has benefited from funding which will help to deliver an enhanced experience for maternity service users and staff by improving infrastructure, technology systems and connectivity.
Digital tools are one of the ways the Trust is improving safety, reporting, and sharing information with women and their families so they can feel more supported throughout their pregnancy and maternity journey.
In Worcestershire, the money will be used to implement a fetal medicine reporting system called Viewpoint which will enable medical images to be measured and annotated digitally, inserted into medical reports and used for diagnostic purposes. It will also enable a home blood pressure monitoring system to be put in place, where pregnant women can monitor and record their blood pressure results via a smart phone app and receive tailored advice from clinical staff.
Justine Jeffery, Director of Midwifery at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said: “I am delighted that we have been awarded these funds to enable further digital improvements within maternity services in the county. We pride ourselves on digital innovation and moving the service forward and strive to provide women with digital solutions to support and personalise their care. We always consider the most efficient ways of working for staff and digital methods have assisted with this.
“The introduction of the Viewpoint system will further support a higher standard of data to inform the care of women who use our service, and offering home blood pressure monitoring to all mothers who meet the criteria will lead to increased choice for mothers as well as improving their experience and efficiency of the service.”
Jules Gudgeon, National Digital Midwife Lead for Maternity at NHS England and NHS Improvement said: “With this funding we are one step closer to interoperable record sharing, regardless of location or system used, for the benefit of women and pregnant people and the clinicians caring for them.”
