Heartbeat: BadgerNet to welcome into world new maternity records

July 22, 2019

Following approval from LMS (Local Maternity Systems) Trusts a change to BadgerNet Maternity’s system has introduced a single pregnancy record. Three Black Country trusts have agreed to make changes to the current system to allow ‘seamless’ maternity care to be implemented across Black Country BadgerNet trusts.

Under the current system when transfers occur between trusts during pregnancy and postnatal care, colleagues only have access to the documented care provided by the previous responsible trust in a read-only format. Forcing staff to re-input the existing record into the new one and often leading to a mother having to repeat previously given information.

It is hoped that the new read-write format BadgerNet Single Pregnancy Record will result not only in reducing time lost through duplication but also mean a reduction of clinical risk through the sharing of appropriate data. The move is joined by an ongoing push to promote PHRs (Personal Health Records) allowing parents access to a digital copy of pregnancy notes.

The LMS Shared Maternity Record Project’s Interim Project Manager, Griff Evans explained:  “Across the Black Country, thousands of women will have their maternity care provided by more than one trust; where they do this, women frequently find themselves repeating information previously provided to staff at the new trust. Enabling maternity staff to see this information in a single read-write record will free up between around 3,000 hours of clinical time per annum; it will also mean that women spend around 3,000 fewer hours providing this information.

“The move towards digital PHRs will enable trusts to look at replacing elements of their paper records with digital, reducing costs but also giving the woman access to her maternity records beyond the duration of her pregnancy, in a secure digital format.”

Future discussions will looks to see how data can be shared with trusts not using BadgerNet.