New Eclipse MIS will support major research

A new Eclipse maternity information system delivered by Huntleigh Healthcare has been customised to support Born in Bradford – a large study that will track the progress of more than 10,000 babies from pregnancy to adulthood.

The maternity information system (MIS) went live in Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust at the end of January.

EHI reported last May that two trusts – Bradford and Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust – had chosen to use the Eclipse MIS instead of waiting for the delivery of iSoft’s Evolution maternity information system (MIS).

The system has been developed to document a complete obstetric track, from referral of a woman’s first pregnancy through to her most recent obstetric event.

Huntleigh Healthcare worked with clinical systems provider Care Records to develop, market and distribute Eclipse and customised it to accommodate the requirements of the Born in Bradford project which will look at why some children fall ill while others do not.

The project will track the lives of more than 10,000 babies born in the city over the next three years from pregnancy, through childhood, until they become adults. This research will help to pinpoint the causes of disease – which Bradford’s midwife project manager, Dawn Jankowicz said, “gives us the key to improving not only the health of Bradford people, but also the health of others around the country.”

Jankowicz added: “As we begin to recruit mums to the Born in Bradford project, the new system will also help us collect research data, which will benefit the study enormously.”

Eclipse has four modules, each of which can also be run separately. The complete suite provides total continuity of care. From the first booking visit, all aspects of antenatal care, including home tele-fetal monitoring and ultrasound scan viewing, annotation and reporting, right through to comprehensive labour management, postnatal and discharge information can be recorded in a comprehensive document.

It includes a Maternity Care Record which provides electronic obstetric patient records which link with patient monitors and local hospital patient management systems.

Clinical areas of the maternity unit at Bradford Royal Infirmary are now equipped with computers which are used by clinical staff to record care. The initial implementation has occurred on the delivery suite and is used when women are in labour and giving birth.

Jankowicz, said: “The new system means that there will be a huge reduction in paperwork and duplication of records. Eventually paper will be completely phased out.”

Surrey and Sussex went live with Eclipse on 13 December, where the unit manages 4000 deliveries a year. Over 200 users have been registered on the new system.

A Huntleigh Healthcare spokesperson said: “Eclipse MIS has been developed in close consultation with leading clinicians in the UK and provides a unique and seamless solution to maternity information management and electronic archiving of cardio-tocographs (CTGs).”

The system has been given compliance for the NHS Numbers for Babies service by Connecting for Health. There is still no release date for the proposed NPfIT maternity systems.

Alison Powell, a midwife at Bradford said: “The new system means that we get to spend extra time doing what we want to do – being with our patients.”

Further stages of the project will follow with eClipse being linked with the Cardio-Tocograph machines which monitor foetal heartbeats, and antenatal care records going live.

Community midwives will be equipped with laptops so they can add and view notes, whilst being linked to the hospital system.

Paddy Nolan, IT project manager, said: “Implementing the system will mean a huge reduction in the duplication of records and will provide a more efficient and accurate method of recording data.”