It’s a successful delivery as a new online guide has been launched to pregnancy, birth and beyond to support those who are expecting in Dorset.

Maternity Matters Dorset was born out of Better Births, a national review setting out a vision to improve outcomes of maternity services in England. Dorset was selected as one of seven ‘early adopter’ sites for local initiatives to be piloted.

Dorset’s Local Maternity System (LMS) has worked with those delivering and receiving maternity care, seeking the views of families and staff. As part of the process, two local mums were recruited to engage with service users.

Opportunities were identified to transform Dorset’s maternity care, including a new postnatal care model, digitalised personalised care plans and an initiative to create one trusted source of information for mums, partners and families.

Design workshops were held with families, midwives, health visitors, Maternity Voice representatives and partners, resulting in the design of maternitymattersdorset.nhs.uk

The website provides an innovative and interactive approach to antenatal and postnatal education that can be accessed anywhere, whether you are having your first child, are experienced parents or having a multiple pregnancy.

Lianne Oldham, Better Births Early Adopter project manager for NHS Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “Our research revealed confusion about what existed locally and how to effectively access it. Maternity Matters Dorset tackles this source of unnecessary stress. Now, families can tap into even more support, advice and information all in one place.”

The website provides a comprehensive source of information and provides a single point of access for self-referrals into the maternity system, which means individualised care planning can begin from the initial contact. It also offers a number of innovative features. Type in your postcode to discover contact details for the midwife, home birth and health visitor teams local to you, as well as wider support services. There’s also a virtual tour of DCH’s maternity department and a calendar shows maternity events in Dorset.

For dads who expressed that they were overlooked by maternity services, NHS Dorset CCG has worked with DadPad to provide free access for local Dads to the tailored app.