‘Digital midwives’ open up about role challenges and hopes for the future
- 3 May 2019
A number of “digital midwives” have spoken about the challenges they face in their roles and what they hope to achieve in the future in the run up to International Midwives’ Day on 5 May.
Over the past two years NHS Digital has been growing a network of digital midwives from around England. Digital Midwives are involved in supporting clinical IT systems used in maternity.
On 25 April, the digital maternity team at NHS Digital hosted a conference in London where 86 digital midwives got together to share their knowledge, success stories and plans for the future.
This included Julie Haigh from North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, who applied to be a digital midwife after she was “sick to death of the myriad of paperwork” and believed there had to be a “better way”.
She went out and spoke to suppliers which led to the implementation of an electronic health record in her department, which now means mothers can hold their maternity notes on an app on their mobile phone.
On what lies in store, Haigh said: “One of the things that we’d like to do in the future is produce some advice videos that we can link into the app.
“So, if someone’s wanting to learn about breastfeeding positions, they can access a short video.
“At 3am when you’re trying to get a baby to feed and there’s no midwife there, you can feel quite alone, but with these videos you would feel like you’ve got somebody with you that is a familiar face.”
Another attendee was Corinne Blackburn from Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust who was referred to the role.
She said: “At the time, I didn’t really know what I was signing up for and it’s been the biggest learning curve and the biggest challenge but I’ve really enjoyed it and it is something that’s become very much part of my career now.”
For Molly Davis from Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, the draw of being a digital midwife was having a long-term goal.
She said: “I’m really enjoying being a digital midwife. It’s a really different way of working from doing purely clinical work – where at the end of your shift you hand your work over to another person who carries it on.
“Then the next time you come in, you’ll be working with someone completely different. The great thing about being a digital midwife is having a long term goal to work towards.”
3 Comments
Having recently started working at Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust, I have been incredibly impressed by how digitally advanced services in midwifery are. As a parent of small children I wish I had access to these digital services when they were born. They compliment and add to the exceptional level of care given to parents by midwives.
I too have been part of this amazing group which has supported so many midwives on their journey to providing new and innovative ways to deliver care digitally. NHS digital have been amazing and have been there to support Trusts and a necessary link for midwives who are venturing into a digital world which is progressing at a really fast pace.
My career has changed significantly because of the implementation of a digital maternity system nearly 4 years ago and I am incredibly proud to say I am now acting CNIO for my organisation. It has been a rollercoaster ride and truly amazing.
Gosh this is such a massive step forward! My children are 17 and 16 and while I was pregnant I accessed most of the information I wanted about giving birth, breastfeeding and having a newborn online from places like The Active Birth Centre. That midwives are taking this step is incredible. Well done and good luck x
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