The COVID-19 pandemic leaves me and my fellow midwives with a dilemma.
We need to support women through pregnancy. We need to examine them, take blood and organise scans – at the same time, we must reduce the number of times they come into hospital.
So, how do we do that? The answer, in part, has been provided by technology. I am the digital midwife for the United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust and the move to video consultations has been extremely positive.
With the support of our Trust implementation team, we set up Attend Anywhere, a video call service for patients with pre-arranged appointments.
We were previously looking at video platforms with our Local Maternity Service, but the pandemic has certainly moved this along much more quickly. The software is secure and women can be assured that communications are confidential. The links are easily accessible from the trust’s website and people have their own identifier for logging on.
Being able to offer women a video call rather than a phone call has been important. Seeing our patients as well as hearing them makes a huge difference.