The Mum and Baby app developed by Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, its charity CW+ and app developers Imagineear, is to be introduced to maternity systems across North West London.
The app supports more personalised care and provides a single point of information through the maternity journey.
Through the app, women can choose their maternity service providers based on their preferences, refer themselves to the maternity service using the online self-referral form, have information guiding them through different stages of pregnancy, and develop their digital personalised care plans for pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period, which they can share with their maternity team to enhance better communication and shared decision making. The app also provides links to local children centres and services that they can access.
Helen Maric, North West London Maternity Transformation Programme Lead “We are delighted that more women across the UK can now download the locally-tailored, clinician-validated, evidenced-based Mum & Baby app. The growing adoption of the app illustrates the transformative power of clinician-user collaborations in improving the care of pregnant women and new mothers. We hope that more and more local maternity services across the UK want to share the app with their patients.”
Doctor Sunita Sharma, Consultant Obstetrician at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and initial creator of the app, said “The Mum & Baby app shows how clinicians can innovate and harness digital technology to empower patients and their families. Over the last four years, we have been able to co-design the app to enhance and adapt to meet the needs of women and their families.
“We’re thrilled that more women across the country can now benefit from the clinician-validated information in the Mum & Baby app, which also encourages them to make personal care plans and provides them with locally relevant health and wellbeing information.”
The app will be extended to services across Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care System (BOB ICS).
