Women in Wales to benefit from new digital maternity system

3 February 2023

Digital Maternity Cymru is pleased to announce Ministerial approval and £7m of funding for a five-year work programme that will digitally transform maternity services for women and clinicians in Wales.

Health boards currently use a combination of different digital and paper systems. Health Minister, Eluned Morgan said, “Several recent reviews of maternity services in Wales and the UK have called for the creation of a unified digital system”.

Digital Health and Care Wales (DHCW) will procure and implement this new maternity system. It will allow healthcare professionals across every health board in Wales to share vital information more quickly, supporting safe, effective and consistent maternity services wherever women choose to access care. 

The new maternity system will be underpinned by a standardised clinical framework incorporating data, care pathways and women’s information. It will integrate with the core Welsh NHS digital infrastructure and form part of the single clinical record for Wales.

Women will have digital access to their personal maternity record, where they can contribute details important to them and receive relevant health advice and reminders. They will only need to share their key information once. Chief Nursing Officer for Wales, Sue Tranka added, “During the course of their pregnancy women will see several different midwives and doctors sometimes across different health boards, so having one all-Wales digital system will make that journey much smoother.”

Anne Watkins, National Maternity Clinical Informaticist Lead at DHCW said, “We are excited about the benefits and opportunities for women in Wales and the Welsh Maternity service presented by this proposed digital transformation.”