New platform will analyse information and issue amber or red alerts when specialist units are understood to be facing an urgent risk requiring attention or assessment in the near future

NHS England has launched a new data-powered digital system intended to help swiftly identify and rectify address potential safety issues with maternity services.

The health service is in the process of deploying the Maternity Outcomes Signal System (MOSS) in all maternity units around the country. The tool processes information that is gathered on wards as a matter of course, and is then designed to detect any “pattern or trend in the data which seems out of the ordinary”.

Once such an anomaly has been spotted, the unit in question is sent a “warning signal”. These are coded either red, which represents a 99% level of confidence that there is a definite issue which requires urgent attention, or amber, which indicates a 95% confidence level.

Once a signal has been sent, the maternity unit has eight working days in which to carry mandatory safety checks, address any problems as needed, and report back to regional and national NHS teams.

Data processed by MOSS and any signals sent by the system “will be visible at a trust, Integrated Care Board (ICB), regional and national level – ensuring there is transparent oversight from ward to board and across every part of the system”, according to NHS England. Health service leaders have also instructed management figures in hospitals “to raise safety issues identified by MOSS at their public board meetings”.

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Duncan Burton, chief nursing officer for England, said: “There have been too many times where safety issues in maternity could have been detected earlier, and we have seen the devastating impact this has had on families. Having a signalling system for maternity which can carefully look at data in near real-time and spot early warning signs if something is potentially going wrong will help to avert safety incidents and prevent tragedies .It is the first national system of its kind in maternity to be able to signal potential safety issues as they emerge and allow them to be acted on faster by maternity services. And it will be the responsibility of staff in maternity services and hospital’s board executives to urgently act on warning signals so problems can’t be ignored or delayed.”

The NHS claims that previous serious incidents that have taken place at maternity units in East Kent, Shrewsbury and Telford, Leeds, and Nottingham could have been anticipated – and prevented – if MOSS had been in operation.

The new online system has been piloted at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and the organisation’s lead safety and governance midwife Cathy Bevens, said that the maternity service has “had really positive experiences using the signal system”.

“The system and safety check brings us together as a team and makes us really focus on what the issues are and where care can improve,” she added. “It’s encouraged senior leaders and executives to come and talk to staff and services users, to listen their issues and concerns. This has prompted a building of trust and teamwork, and acknowledgement of the lived experiences of women on the labour ward. Overall, a really positive experience.”