Digital Challenge

On the 24th January the HSE and members of the National Project Team took on a 24 hour ‘Digital Challenge’ by visiting maternity units countrywide to mark the launch of the new healthcare initiative. As part of the roll-out of Ireland’s ground-breaking Maternal and Newborn Clinical Management System (MN-CMS) each of the country’s 19 maternity units have identified a ‘digital gap’ to be remedied ahead of the system implementation. 3 teams visited the 17 maternity units due to go live with MN-CMS  in the course of 24 hours and presented a summary report to the Minister for Health, Simon Harris that evening. Cork University Maternity Hospital has gone live with MN-CMS and University Hospital Kerry will go live in March. 

The intent of challenge & the report is to gather a snapshot of where hospitals are currently, prior to the implementation of MN-CMS. The information gathered at each hospital is a snapshot and representative of the opinions of the people spoken to on that day. It is not a statistical reflection on any of the hospitals.

Commenting on the challenge, Minister  for Health Simon Harris remarked that:

"2016 was a landmark year for maternity services beginning with the publication of Ireland's first National Maternity Strategy and ending with the go-live of the first hospital-based Electronic Health Record in Cork University Maternity Hospital in December.  Today's challenge is the next step in implementing EHRs across our remaining 19 maternity hospitals and the work the eHealth team have done in just 24 hours will significantly contribute to delivering this important development in the delivery of maternity care."

Richard Corbridge, HSE Chief Information Officer, explained that our 24 hour digital challenge illustrates the significance of the Maternal and Newborn Clinical Management System; essentially that everything possible is being done in our maternity units to get them ready for electronic health records, which is one of the largest and most important ICT projects ever undertaken in Irish healthcare. This is the single most important development for improved care in Irish maternity services.  The MN-CMS allows immediate access to a complete clinical history, 24-hours a day, including results of medical investigations.  It ensures that ongoing patient care is based on the most up to date, comprehensive, accurate information”