Pregnancy app to help NW London mums

By Julie Griffiths on 26 November 2018 Pregnancy

A new pregnancy app for women in north-west London has been launched.

The app was developed by mums, midwives and doctors in north-west London and charity CW+ to provide women with a single source of trusted NHS information for all their maternity needs.

From the start of pregnancy to early parenthood, the app aims to support women and their families with choice on where and how they would like to give birth and access to information on being pregnant, birth and looking after a new baby. It also helps with their personalised plans for care.

The app hopes to improve women’s experiences of maternity care and ensures that the information they receive is consistent no matter where they choose to give birth in the local area.

The North-west London Collaboration of Clinical Commissioning Groups covers eight boroughs across inner and outer London and is one of the maternity transformation programme’s Early Adopter sites. This new app is just one of their latest initiatives for implementing Better births into their maternity services.

Baroness Julia Cumberlege, chair of the National Maternity Review Better births, welcomed the app.

‘The mum & baby app shows how we can harness digital technology to deliver innovation in the NHS. This maternity app supports women and families to understand their choices, especially around choosing their place of birth, which pregnant women have told us how important this is to them,’ she said.

Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent, head of maternity, children and young people for NHS England, said it showed what was possible when modern technology was embraced.

She said that as well as being good for women and their families, it would ‘help give women and clinicians their valuable time back’.

Leo Mead, who lives in Ealing and is expecting her first baby in December, said the app had helped her. 

‘I never knew there was so much to know and this app helps to keep it all in one place. Being able to note my thoughts, questions and feelings also means it’s easier to remember things I want to discuss when I have appointments with my midwife,’ she said.

The app is available for download on both Apple and Android by searching ‘mum and baby’.