Digital possibilities in maternity care – what are the barriers?

Digital technology has been at the forefront of driving improvements within the NHS for decades and is something that has been used to drive productivity and safety improvements or to reduce the burden on front line staff.  COVID forced the NHS to look to digital systems and processes once again in order to keep providing services when patients and staff were advised to stay at home. Maternity services were not exempt from this, in fact the pandemic brought about a loud and very real call for change.

This call for change is supported by the Maternity Transformation Programme which aims to make wide ranging improvements to maternity services following the National Maternity Review. The maternity transformation programme seeks to achieve the vision set out in Better Births by bringing organisations together to lead and implement the change.

But what does this mean for the women using maternity services and those that are providing the care?

Women using maternity services and maternity staff are usually familiar with technology in their personal lives, but this does not always translate into the service and systems that they are being provided with. The Royal College of Midwives recently shared the data that showed

• the use of electronic records could increase time spent providing direct care from 30% to 70%. This technology could save time spent on unnecessary administration and release time for patient focused clinical care
• giving a woman ease of access to her medical record and health information can help to support decision making in her pregnancy
• a centralised digital record can reduce the risk of any miscommunication between health providers.

When discussing this important subject Hermione Jackson, Digital Midwife Project Advisor told the Royal College of Midwives just why digital adoption is so important by saying:

‘Some of us may think that going into digital takes away from holistic care, but this couldn’t be further from the reality. We see digital technologies accommodate more accurate data which ultimately leads to improved understanding of outcomes for women and can drive improvements in the service for women. We must encourage our colleagues to see the benefits and support them in training. This technology is there for the taking, it’s established in our personal lives so why not take the reins and apply it to our working lives too?’

But what is stopping trusts from using the type of technology that we will know is available? As with most things it comes down to two main elements: time and money. Most trusts are feeling the contact pinch of staffing issues and money restraints but here at Apira we are proud to have professional, committed consultants who are experts in their field and who can help trusts overcome hurdles to adopt and develop maternity solutions.