Majority of maternity providers using digital tech well

According to the Maternity Digital Maturity Assessment report, the majority of maternity providers are making a good start at using digital technology.

Produced by NHS Digital, the report shows how digitally ‘savvy’ maternity services in England are for the first time and argues that greater use of digital technology will help maternity staff and services to provide better care for patients and more effectively use resources.

With 135 maternity providers having completed an assessment of their progress in adopting digital technology, the assessment also looked at how much investment was being made in software, equipment and infrastructure.

Assessed according to their level of digital maturity, the results are set to help organisations identify their strengths and gaps in the use of digital services and highlight common challenges faced by maternity providers and potential solutions which could help them improve their digital maturity. This includes recommendations to encourage greater collaboration, so that the more digitally mature maternity providers share their expertise with the handful who had low maturity levels.

Julia Gudgeon, NHS Digital’s author of the report, said: “This report marks an important step forward in explaining the role technology and data can play in driving up safety, quality and efficiency within maternity services. We have listened to clinicians working in the field and women themselves, both of whom are key to developing the use of digital tools to improve the experience of service users. This insight helps us to understand what to do and what not to do.

“Our hope is that the findings of this report will inspire further collaboration so that women, technology and maternity services can work together to provide better health, better care and better value. We live in a world where digital technology is transforming our lives and we need to bring these benefits into maternity care.”

Juliet Bauer, chief digital officer for NHS England, said: “Using the best digital technology, from specialist mental health consultations via Skype - as NHS England announced in February - to use of digital records to support maternity services, can improve patient care for women, babies and their families. We now want to see greater collaboration across the NHS so those maternity services not using digital can be helped along the journey.”