A pioneering programme involving Powys and Shropshire's health boards has been set up to help women who live in one county but give birth in the other.

Data is being shared across the border with the aim of improving the maternity care of women by looking at how it affects people not online in Powys, but in Shropshire's other neighbouring authorities in Herefordshire and Wolverhampton.

Healthwatch Shropshire chairman Vanessa Barrett said the organisation was “particularly aware” of the issue and how it affected cases in places like Hereford, mid-Wales and Wolverhampton.

In a written answer, the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust said it was working with partners in Powys to ensure “robust pathways for women that have shared care” and a similar dialogue was starting with Wrexham to help women know the differences between the areas’ offers and choose between them.

The trust’s Ockenden Report Assurance Committee – set up in response to the first Independent Review of Maternity Services at SaTH report – will discuss Ms Barrett’s question and the trust’s answer, along with five others, on Thursday, April 22.

The document says Ms Barrett asked about cross-border information sharing at the committee’s inaugural meeting in March, and the written question followed.

“At Healthwatch Shropshire we are particularly aware of this issue and how it affects women in the south of the county, e.g. Ludlow, who go on to have their baby in Hereford,” it said.

“Can you tell us the arrangements that are currently in place and planned?”

SaTH’s response says: “Work has been ongoing with Powys to ensure robust pathways for women that have shared care; this work is almost completed.

“The same process in Wrexham is about to start, including the production of patient information, which is being co-produced with the Maternity Voices Partnership, so women are informed about the differences in antenatal pathways in Wales and England, and in order to assist them in making informed choices about their care.”

SaTH’s response adds that the introduction of “BadgerNet” at SaTH will improve information sharing with the neighbouring Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust and Wye Valley NHS Trust, who are fellow users. It adds that a senior SaTH midwife plans to meet with neighbouring trusts this month to “look at any changes in information-sharing process that may be needed”.

The other five questions cover support for families involved in the ongoing Ockenden Review, information-sharing consent, serious incident reporting, help for mothers with low literacy or English-language ability to view and discuss their case notes and the difference between National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics [FIGO] guidelines.