Managing demand: telephone triage in acute maternity services

Abstract

A project providing triage in acute maternity settings was developed to better manage demand and ensure the right service was available at the right time and in the right place. Data collected prior to implementing the telephone triage project identified that a significant number of women accessed the labour ward as their first point of contact for advice with maternity services resulting in an unnecessarily high volume and throughput where labour ward was in effect gate-keeping other clinical areas. The project was designed and introduced to maximize the use of the clinical expertise possessed by a group of practice development midwives. Early results suggest that demand and patient flow is better managed following the introduction of the telephone triage service. The development of a telephone triage service within an acute maternity service is beneficial and can result in a reduction in inappropriate admissions. There are benefits at a client, clinician, service and organizational level.