Maternity care across Wales is now unified under a single digital record and patient-facing app.
While the issue is still being debated in Westminster, Wales has become the first nation in the UK to combine its maternity care under a single digital record and patient-facing app.
BadgerNet Maternity has rolled out in all seven Welsh NHS Health Boards. It will connect maternity information across organisational boundaries, allowing thousands of expectant parents to access their records, maternity appointments and updates digitally through just one app.
The three-year agreement will replace a more patchwork approach, marked by separate local systems and more paper notes.
The aim is to reduce errors, duplication and time spent tracking down notes for doctors, alongside more efficient multidisciplinary working, including smoother handovers across teams and sites. For parents, benefits should extend to more transparency and joined-up experiences throughout the pregnancy and postnatal periods.
At the more national level, linking maternity data across Wales is set to build a foundation for safer, more consistent care. It should allow trends and variations to be identified earlier, and long-term service planning to be enhanced.
West Wales’ Hywel Dda University Health Board was the final one to go live with the software, in April.
“The rollout of BadgerNet across Wales is a vitally important step forward in modernising our maternity services and providing a consistent service across the country,” said its director of digital, Anthony Tracey.
“By giving expectant parents direct access to their information and enabling clinicians to share data more effectively, we’re strengthening safety, transparency and consistency in maternity care nationwide,” he added.
BadgerNet is hosted by System C, a British technology company that has already supported thousands of users in the NHS.
