A new digital solution to help NHS maternity services manage in-patient flow

What is it about?

This article describes an improvement project carried out in a London NHS maternity unit to understand the real-life experiences, challenges and insights of front-line team and new mothers on the postnatal ward. Design-thinking approach allowed the team to study how the ward care is managed and problems such as poor communication, disconnected operational systems and the difficulties in coordinating mother and baby care. Based on these insights, we co-designed a digital portal that brings together all team members and operational ward processes for the mother-baby dyad into one place. This system streamlines real-time information sharing and provides a tool to support data-drive improvements.

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Photo by Hollie Santos on Unsplash

Photo by Hollie Santos on Unsplash

Why is it important?

National surveys in England, UK have repeatedly shown that women’s experiences of postnatal care are often not as good as their experiences during pregnancy and birth. National reports, including analysis of Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection of the maternity units (2023) noted that around two-thirds of maternity units were rated as ‘requires improvement’ or ‘inadequate’. The 2024 national patient safety report highlighted an increasing concern, alongside maternity units facing serious pressures and challenges. These findings show an urgent need to consider new practical solutions to address the safety and quality of NHS maternity care. Giving birth remains the most common reason for NHS hospital admission in England. This means maternity and postnatal wards are busy, high demand environments. When postnatal ward processes are not running effectively and efficiently, it affects not only the quality of care and experiences of the mother and the babies but also safety of those in need of one-to-one care in labour. Improving how operational information is shared, how mother and baby care is coordinated, and how patient flow is managed can make a real difference on how we optimise safety within the available resources.

Perspectives