The Real Birth Company

An interactive, user friendly, animated, easily accessible digital maternity tool, providing mothers-to-be with essential support.

Competition 20 – Health Inequalities in Maternity Care

Zoe Wright RM, CEO, The Real Birth Company,

Linkedin: the-real-birth-company-limited/

The NHS Long Term Plan set out key commitments to accelerate action to prevent ill health and tackle health inequalities, with the expansion of the roll-out of maternity digital care records so that by 2023/24, all women will be able to access their maternity notes and information through their smart phones or device, providing positive birth information and guidance to expecting parents.
The Real Birth Digital Programme links into any digital maternity notes system or hospital app. Midwives can refer women to the technology which is accessed directly through a woman's digital maternity notes or a unique QR code using android, iPhone, tablet or computer; alternatively, where someone is digitally excluded, the programme can be downloaded and printed. Our continuing development involves co-creation with service users of new modules. Evidence-based information is regularly reviewed and updated and presented in a holistic way, supporting findings from the 2020 Ockenden Review and NICE guidance on birth planning conversations.

We are active in several NHS sites across the UK, with some early adopters of our technology entering the end of their second year. In these sites we can demonstrate an annual 30.1% increase in usage from pregnant women and people, year on year. With approximately 620,000 births a year, our technology could support an additional 362,000 people nationally, providing 217,200 hours of midwifery support saving approximately £14 million a year.

Working with The Real Birth Company has been incredibly positive and continues to be very supportive and engaging. The package they offer supports a robust digital offer of antenatal education around labour and birth which allows equal access to quality information for all families we care for across our demographic. The variety of formats and use of 9 human translated languages, with more on the way, really supports equity and equality agendas both locally and nationally to reach every family regardless of need. Receiving rich information of usage helps us to identify areas of use and where increased promotion may be beneficial. With our new digital note system just launched, The Real Birth Company have been very enthusiastic and engaging in integrating this into the system with the company. We hope that with this supportive package, families can ask the questions that are important to them and may reduce the 36-week appointment time around birth preparation. We look forward to the offer of building and adapting the package to our Trust.

Sarah Saxby, Transformation Midwife, University Hospitals Plymouth

"We recently worked with The Real Birth Company to secure their digital platform for our parent education sessions. It was super easy to arrange and they have been responsive to any requests for information/support we have needed. The digital platform is easy to use and has benefited our parents to be."

Maxine Morris, Matron for Maternity, George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust

• Used by 30 Hospital sites in the NHS
• Created 2 new jobs
• Used by over 10,000 women in the first year
• Supporting marginalised groups
• Winner of the Health Innovation Network Innovate Award for Innovation Helping to Address Health Inequalities
• Global opportunities in the pipeline

February 2024