Isle of Wight upgrades maternity system

The Isle of Wight NHS Trust is upgrading its maternity information system as part of plans for “smarter data collection” and wider use of mobile solutions.

St Mary’s Hospital in Newport, the trust’s main base for acute services, will upgrade to EuroKing’s E3.net maternity information system.

Yvonne Harris, the hospital’s IT project lead for midwifery, told EHI the trust has been using Euroking’s K2 system since 1999 and wanted to upgrade to the E3.net version to reflect changes in its maternity services.

“We’ve been trying to think about upgrading the system to more reflect the services we provide and that’s useful across the board.”

Harris said the upgrade is also necessary to address the closure of the NHS Numbers for Babies service, which ensures babies get an NHS number as soon as they’re born, in favour of the Personal Demographics Service.

“With NN4B going and PDS taking over, it’s an opportunity to do something with the system as we wouldn’t be compliant with the new solution.”

Harris said the system is “very flexible” and can fit with the trust’s fully integrated maternity service, with midwives working in the community, GP practices and children’s services.

It will also allow midwives to be included in the trust’s exploration of providing digital pens to community nurses and workers, she said.

The hospital started developing plans for the system upgrade late last year, and Harris said the upgrade is set to go live in September or October after customisation work is completed.

She said the trust will initially replace the existing system on a “like for like” basis, before considering how to roll it out to GP practices and other community providers.

Annie Hunter, the trust’s head of midwifery, said the upgrade will also help the trust with its integrated working, as midwives are rotated into the community and back to the hospital.

“E3.net will help us move confidently into the future, which is all about using tablets [and] smarter data collection. It will be vital for us to access live data and enter live data.”