>>Matthew Jolly: Hello, I am Matthew Jolly, I am National Clinical Director for Women’s
Health and the Maternity Review, and I am also the lead for the data and information
work stream.
We intend to create the most complete, comprehensive and accessible set of maternity data ever
achieved in this country.
To that end, we have already decided to remove the opt-out for providers who do not have
a maternity information system, so that they will have to submit the maternity services
dataset in the future.
Ultimately, this means that we should have high‑quality data for the whole of England.
We are also arranging for the maternity services dataset to be updated annually so it remains
fit for purpose.
These data can then be linked with other datasets such as mental health and the neonatal data
to create an even more powerful dataset, that can be used for our dashboards and also for
the national perinatal audit in the future.
While acquiring the data is critical, it serves no purpose if we do not then make the data
easily accessible and easily understood.
As part of our work we are going to develop a set of national indicators, that will help
us identify where there is unwarranted variation within maternity services.
We also intend to develop a user‑configurable maternity dashboard to present data that is
pertinent – Collaborative working with the other work
streams is an essential part of the implementation of the Maternity Transformation Programme,
and we will be working with the technology work stream on techniques for gathering patient‑recorded
or service user‑recorded experience measures, pertinent to your particular projects.
We will also work with the technology team to develop data that can be presented in a
very easily understandable way using the maternity tool, so that service users can understand
the relevant facts about their maternity services.
I am very keen to emphasise that we use this data to drive understanding of our maternity
services so that we can improve outcomes.
That means that we use data as a set, so we look at balancing metrics and do not just
chase one indicator as a target.
The purpose of data is to drive continual improvement in our services, not to just performance
manage an individual hospital.
I firmly believe this project will deliver the best maternity data and information in
the world, which will help us create the best maternity system in the world.
>>Alex Elias: At NHS Digital our vision is an NHS paper free at the point of care.
We want to harness the potential technology and provide patients with the information,
advice, treatment and access they need to make sure that they take a more active role
in the management of their health and care needs.
At NHS Digital we want to develop the digital clinical skills that will allow us to harness
the power of technology and information to enable new and better care models.
We want to create a digital revolution across all care settings, where practitioners are
rid of the burden of paper‑based administration and have more time to see those that need
more care.
Our immediate priority at NHS Digital is to improve the delivery of maternity and child
services in England.
Earlier this year the National Maternity Review report called for a seamless sharing of maternity
information across pre‑ and post-natal care.
The Review also recommended that mothers should take a much stronger role in the centre of
this process, and they should have much greater access to information about their pregnancy.
At NHS Digital we are working very closely with NHS England and our partners to build
the information and technology capabilities that will allow the flow of maternity information
safely and securely across different care settings.
We do this for a number of reasons.
First, we want clinicians and their patients to have access to their maternity records
online, therefore removing the burden of paper notes that were being carried around up to
now from appointment to appointment throughout pregnancy.
Second, we want every minute at every pregnancy appointment to be spent for the provision
of care rather than having the clinician and the patient repeat the same basic information.
Lastly, we want to make sure that healthcare professionals have access to the complete
clinical history of their patients online, so that they can enable better real-time decision-making
and timely action.
We hope that by creating those systems we can provide patients with the comfort of a
more personalised and more standardised experience whenever they are accessing care settings
during pregnancy.
Last, this is just the beginning of a very exciting journey that can only be successful
with your contribution.