Why History Matters: Strengthening Maternity And Neonatal Safety Through Reliable Access To Historical Data

Maternity and neonatal services across the NHS are under increased scrutiny. Recent national reviews, CQC findings and high-profile investigations have shown how difficult it can be for clinicians and governance teams to form a clear picture of events when information is fragmented or hard to access. A recurring challenge is bringing together historical information about the mother-baby dyad – particularly when data is spread across multiple legacy systems.

In many organisations, maternity and neonatal teams still work with separate digital systems that do not interoperate. These gaps slow clinical reviews, introduce risk during urgent decision-making and make it harder for Trusts to respond quickly to SAR, FOI, incident and litigation requests. Recent events in neonatal care have also highlighted the safety implications when concerns are not escalated effectively or when key historical information cannot be retrieved in time.

This webinar brings together digital and clinical perspectives to explore how NHS organisations can improve safety and assurance by strengthening access to historical maternity and neonatal information. Gayle Dellow, Lead Digital Midwife at Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Chair of East of England Maternity and Neonatal Digital Network; and CEO of the Healthcare Innovation Consortium, Hadleigh Stollar, will join John McCann from BridgeHead Software to examine why these records are often disconnected, the impact this has on governance, and the practical steps organisations are taking to ensure reliable, compliant access to historical data while reducing reliance on outdated legacy systems.

Presenters:
Gayle Dellow, Lead Digital Midwife, Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Chair of East of England Maternity and Neonatal Digital Network, Chair of the Maternity and Neonatal Special Interest Group for the EPR Network

Hadleigh Stollar, Chief Executive, Healthcare Innovation Consortium

John McCann, Vice President of Global Marketing, BridgeHead Software