Maternal & Newborn Clinical Management System
The Maternal and Newborn Clinical Management System (MN-CMS) Project is the design and implementation of an Electronic Health Record (EHR) for all women and babies being cared for in maternity, newborn and gynaecology services in Ireland. This record enables all maternal, newborn and gynaecology information to be shared with relevant providers of care as required in compliance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Background
The MN-CMS project stems from a number of reports [1] looking at maternity service provision in Ireland. The project board was set up in 2007 to assess the need for a Maternal and Newborn Electronic Health Record (EHR). Following the needs assessment, a detailed design specification was developed in consultation with each of the 19 maternity units in Ireland.
The public procurement process commenced in late 2011 and concluded with contract signing with the appointed vendor, Cerner, in early 2014 and the MN-CMS national team initiated Phase 1 of the project in March of that year.
The successful deployment of Phase 1 occurred at Cork University Maternity Hospital (CUMH) in December 2016, at University Hospital Kerry (UHK) in March 2017, The Rotunda Hospital in November 2017 followed by the National Maternity Hospital in January 2018. The system will be deployed to the remaining 15 hospitals in the future phases.
Following a review of Phase 1 it was recognised that the ability to document gynaecology care within the electronic chart was also a requirement within the National Woman and Infant’s Health Programme.
The MN-CMS project team set about progressing with this development in 2018 and in 2019 The Gynaecology Electronic Record was implemented at all four phase 1 sites in 2019:
CUMH in June, The Rotunda and NMH in September, and UHK in December.
The key benefits include:
- Improved patient care as a result of better communication, supported decision making and effective planning of care.
- More effective and efficient recording of information reflecting best standards in documentation.
- Enhanced clinical audit and research locally as a result of better quality data.
- Informed business intelligence that will drive local and national management decisions.
- MN-CMS has a full audit trail capability to support security and detection of any data breaches.
For further information on this project please contact:
Catherine Jinks, Programme Manager - catherine.jinks@hse.ie
[1]The Lourdes Hospital Inquiry:
An Inquiry into to peripartum hysterectomy at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda (2006); The National Health Information Strategy (2006); The Dublin Maternities Information and Communication Technology Strategy (2007); The Future of Maternity and Gynaecology Services in Ireland 2006-2016; The Modernisation of the National Casemix Programme in Ireland (2006).
Roll out of Maternal & Newborn Clinical Management System -Updates
