Our shout-out this month goes to a new scheme which is helping to overcome communication barriers in maternity and neonatal services.
CardMedic launched within maternity and neonatal services at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) and Sherwood Forest Hospitals (SFH) in March. CardMedic is an innovative digital communication tool which improves communications between healthcare staff and patients regardless of language barriers, visual, hearing and cognitive impairments.
Communication barriers can lead to health inequalities and there is a wealth of evidence that associates language barriers with adverse events when accessing healthcare services. Pregnant women who do not speak English are at greater risk of poor birth outcomes compared to their English-speaking counterparts. Poor communication can also have a negative impact on a woman’s experience. The use of CardMedic aims to reduce health inequalities, improve personalised care, enhance quality of care, and improve patient safety.
Nearly 250 people have registered with the service and early feedback has been resoundingly positive. In one example, a registrar was able to communicate effectively with a Vietnamese-speaking service user during a night shift about induction of labour.
A special thank you goes to Siobhan Buxton in the ICB Maternity Commissioning Team, Gemma Boyd (Consultant Midwife and Professional Midwifery Advocate at SFH), and Debrah Neale (Matron for Community Engagement and Innovation at NUH) who have been an integral part in the launch of the service.
