Key Summary
- MOSS flags unusual risk patterns early
- Mandatory rapid safety checks follow alerts
- National rollout with full oversight from ward to board
NHS maternity services has rolled out Maternity Outcomes Signal System (MOSS), which helps detect and alert potential safety issues for mothers and babies.
MOSS rapidly analyses data being routinely recorded by maternity teams on wards to spot whether there are potential emerging safety issues which need urgent attention and action.
If the system detects a pattern or trend in the data which seems out of the ordinary, it sends out a warning signal calling for an urgent safety check.
Once a signal is generated, the maternity unit should carry out a critical safety check within eight working days and share action taken with regional and national teams.
Signals will be traffic-light coded, with amber alerts representing a 95 percent confidence and red alerts, a 99 percent confidence that the increase in events is real and needs urgent attention.
Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the first places to pilot it, and MOSS is now being rolled out across all maternity services in the country.
The data and signals will be visible at a trust, Integrated Care Board (ICB), regional and national level – ensuring a transparent oversight from ward to board.
Retrospective analysis shows MOSS would have detected past signals in maternity units including East Kent, Shrewsbury & Telford, Leeds, and Nottingham.
MOSS was created in response to a recommendation made by an independent investigation led by Dr Bill Kirkup on maternity and neonatal services in East Kent.
“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,” commented Duncan Burton, chief nursing officer for England.
He added, “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.”
“This is a really positive development that originated directly from the investigation into East Kent maternity services. The families there who did so much to bring this to light deserve great credit for the improvements it will bring,” said DR Bill Kirkup, one of the experts behind the development of MOSS.
Health secretary, Wes Streeting said, “Now, this is a key step we are taking to improve maternity care. We have a sophisticated early warning system that will sound the alarm when patterns emerge that need urgent attention,” as she assured to form a maternity and neonatal taskforce to ensure safety.
