Croydon Health Services NHS Trust has published a tender notice for implementation services and support for its Cerner Millennium (Oracle Healthcare) electronic patient record, within maternity services.
The trust hopes to “uplift” the maternity element of the EPR, to target “improvements to usage and data quality issues”, which was first installed at the trust in 2015. The scope will span the maternity department including community, with “opportunities to digitise legacy items are to be availed of”.
The contract is valued at £200k with work scheduled to take place between April – October 2025, with an emphasis on completing the project as soon as possible, “subject to the safe and effective implementation of the solution”. Interested suppliers must submit their application by 7 March 2025 via the Artemis e-sourcing portal.
The programme comes as part of the trust’s wider, five-year strategy which began in 2023 and focuses on improving health and reducing inequalities through the optimisation of existing digital tools and the role of new technologies such as AI and robotics.
Digital transformation in maternity care: the wider trend
A national roll-out of the Welsh electronic maternity record began last month. First implementation started in Aneurin Bevan University and Cardiff and Vale University health boards, with plans for the digital system to be available across all health boards by March 2026. This is alongside the introduction of an app which allows women to access their full maternity records and more.
Royal Bolton Hospital’s Neonatal Unit launched an app designed to keep parents updated and involved in their baby’s care. vCreate allows parents and families to view video and photo updates related to their baby, even when they’re unable to be on the unit.
North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust recently implemented livestreaming technology to support maternity care, enabling student midwives, student nurses and resident doctors to observe caesarean section surgery in real time.
For a recent HTN Now webinar, we welcomed resuscitation officer at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust, Kelsey Dunning, who spoke to us about the introduction of her virtual reality learning programme which was used to help improve the learning experience of nursing and midwifery students.
