South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has been awarded over £800,000 of NHS funds to improve its digital maternity services.
The trust, which runs The James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough and the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton, is one of 128 successful bids made to the Digital Maternity Fund.
What will the money be used for?
The money is given to NHS organisations across the country to improve infrastructure technology systems and connectivity.
The £885,000 will be used to help deliver an enhanced experience for local maternity service users and staff.
This includes a rollout of a maternity electronic patient record system as well as providing the opportunity for innovation within maternity such as implementing digital apps.
Improving accessibility
Deepika Meneni, South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s clinical director for obstetrics, said: “Digital tools will give women easy access to their maternity records and allows them to take full control of their pregnancy journey by having all the information and decisions about their care at their fingertips.
“Healthcare professionals caring for a pregnant woman will also have easy access to information, no matter where or when the mum-to-be is seen.
“This will help improve the experience for women by reducing the burden of repeating information to each healthcare professional that they see throughout their pregnancy and it will also improve safety.”
We are delighted to have been awarded this money from the Digital Maternity Fund, it will make a huge difference for our mums and we’re looking forward to sharing our developments in the future.”
Hilary Lloyd chief nurse
Peter-Marc Fortune, clinical SRO – NHSEI Digital Child Health and Maternity Programme said: “We have seen some excellent examples of regional and local collaboration in the bids received.
“We want funds to be used for maximum impact and to address some of the inequalities at local level.”
Jules Gudgeon, national digital midwife lead for maternity – NHSEI added: “With this funding we are one step closer to interoperable record sharing, regardless of location or system used, for the benefit of women and pregnant people and the clinicians caring for them.”