East Surrey goes live with new maternity system

East Surrey Hospital has gone live with the first implementation of a new maternity information system called Eclipse MIS.

The system from Huntleigh Healthcare has been implemented over the past six months and required the migration of 25,000 patient records from the maternity unit’s old Protos system. The unit handles 4,000 deliveries a year and more than 200 users have been registered on the new system.

The first live NN4B (NHS Numbers for Babies) birth registrations using the new system – for twins born by caesarean section – were completed on 13 December at 13.05.

IT liaison midwife and MIS project lead, Bridget Dack, said the new system was a major investment for the Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust. Staff had found the system very easy to use and were confident it would help them to provide the very best standards of maternity care.

She said: “From feedback and comments we’ve received from colleagues from other trusts, who have contacted us to find out how the project has been progressing, it seems Eclipse MIS is the system of choice – in the words of one head of midwifery – ‘stunning’.”

Modern maternity systems can also help staff to manage risks – a major issue in obstetrics where errors can cause distressing lifelong damage and may result in litigation and high settlements.

The East Surrey Hospital unit in Redhill currently has a CNST [Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts] level 2 rating which it hopes to improve in 2007. Laura Rose, general manager for women and child health and clinical support services said: “This is a great plus for the department and in particular in support of our aim to achieve CNST level 3 next year.”

Huntleigh Healthcare which has worked in the maternity market for over 25 years says Eclipse is a cost effective fully integrated solution built on the latest Microsoft .NET technology platform and is easily customisable to meet local and national needs.