North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust has implemented livestreaming technology to support maternity care, enabling student midwives, student nurses and resident doctors to observe caesarean section surgery in real time.
The initiative sees a surgeon, wearing a camera and microphone headset during a real c-section, livestreaming the process to approximately 30 students with the consent of an anonymous volunteer patient. The point-of-view camera and precision zoom functionality allow students to “see exactly what the surgeon sees”, according to the trust, with the microphone also offering two-way communication to allow students to ask questions and receive answers in real time.
Midwife-turned-clinical educator Hannah Cussons comments: “I was a midwife for 13 years and I’d never seen a C-section so closely until we started this training. You can see it all so clearly and ask questions all the way through which really helps to put your theory into practice.” She called the use of the tech a “great introduction to surgery” and added: “It’s a much more comfortable environment and takes away that anxiety of being in a theatre.”
North Tees and Hartlepool initially implemented the livestreamed training initiative in January last year with the aim of showcasing hip and knee replacement surgery, with success in this area leading to wider roll-out to maternity.
Maternity and digital
Last month HTN explored the maternity service strategy for 2024-2029 from Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, highlighting innovation and technology as key enablers to develop the service and noting plans to launch a new maternity end-to-end electronic patient record in 2025.
Also in September we reported how Digital Health and Care Wales shared plans to procure a new commercial, off-the-shelf digital maternity solution for NHS Wales, with the functionality to support a shared maternity record and notes and supported by a service management regime.
Summer brought the news that East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust launched online hub My Pregnancy Notes at Lister Hospital’s maternity unit; and University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust went live with electronic system and app Badger Notes.
We also previously heard from Misbah Mahmood, deputy chief midwifery information officer at Leeds Teaching Hospitals, for insight into the role of the digital midwife and the implementation of an end-to-end maternity EPR in Leeds.
