Nottingham maternity services introduces CardMedic

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have both rolled out the CardMedic communication app, boosting safer care for those with communication barriers.

The deployment was commissioned by the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Local Maternity and Neonatal System in a bid to reduce healthcare inequalities. The app uses clinically interpreted scripts that can be used in healthcare conversations to support midwives, anaesthetists, obstetricians, nurses, physiotherapies and reception teams in carrying out their roles.

The CardMedic resource is designed to improve communication between patients and staff. It includes more than 1,500 pre-written clinical scripts to support their conversations that are available in multiple languages. It can also provide information in ReadAloud and EasyRead formats to support those with additional needs too.

Siobhan Buxton, maternity commissioning manager, Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board, said: “By supporting clinical conversations, CardMedic will help us reduce healthcare inequalities, support existing interpretation teams and improve the patient experience with enhanced support.

“We will also explore the use of CardMedic for non-clinical conversations, such as meal choices and building a rapport between staff, patients and families, with the aim of improving their overall experience of care.”

Nottingham maternity services joins a list of other maternity services that have rolled out the technology to support patients. This includes North East London Integrated Care System and Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care System.

Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Local Maternity and Neonatal System will undertake a full evaluation of the impact of CardMedic over the next year. It is also exploring how its use could be extended to help build the overall experience of a hospital visit for patients.

Dr Rachael Grimaldi, co-founder and chief executive of CardMedic, who won Digital Health Rewired Pitchfest in 2022, said: “We’re delighted to be working with the Nottinghamshire LMNS. Improving maternity and neonatal care is a national priority, and we couldn’t be happier that CardMedic is being used to help maternity staff bridge gaps in service provision.

“Everyone deserves to access equitable care, irrespective of their language, cognition, or background, and we’re excited to see how CardMedic helps to make a difference for families in Nottinghamshire.”