The Welsh government has announced £7 million in funding to support the development of a national maternity system.
Health Minister Eluned Morgan announced the programme stating “several recent reviews of maternity services in Wales and the UK have called for the creation of a unified digital system” and added that currently all health boards in Wales use different systems, both digital and paper based.
Formal procurement has not yet started, but it is planned for the system to be rolled-out in the next two to three years.
To date a discovery project has engaged with clinicians and service users to understand their views; in addition, a digital maternity programme team has completed a market assessment to understand the potential solution options.
As part of the scope the solution will include digital patient access to their maternity notes through the NHS Wales App and website. This is to include the ability to send pregnant women health advice, reminders and important personal medical messages.
In November, HTN reported on the NHS Wales App which is being released through an early ‘beta’ phase and is being trialled with 1,000 people across ten GP practices.
Health Minister Eluned Morgan added: “This new system will be safer and more efficient thanks to faster, better information sharing. It will also give women much more control over their maternity records and allow them to feedback to midwives and doctors much faster, via an app that will have records of all their discussions with health professionals. Improvements in accuracy of data collection will also allow health boards to better plan services.”
