Delivering health information to pregnant women in the UK

Abstract

Over the past decade, there has been a move by British governments of different political persuasions to push for a patient-led National Health Service (NHS). One of the areas of most visible change is in maternity care. Around 60% of the UK population use the internet every day. Our changing demography presents significant pressure on resources. Our antenatal clientele range from the middle-aged professional to the non-English speaking immigrant. Meeting their varying information needs is both challenging and expensive. In the current economic climate, where efficiency saving is required across the NHS, expenditure on health information delivery systems is likely to be threatened by ‘more acute’ demands. We need to assess the suitability of our services and provide best value for money. This paper examines the information delivery systems currently available. We also studied their uptake and influence on our local setting as well as their unique challenges.

Keywords::

• Maternity care
• health information delivery systems
• internet
• patient-led NHS

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.