Born in Belgium Professionals, shared platform towards integrated care.

Introduction: The first 1000 days of life (i.e. 270 days of a pregnancy and 2 years of 365 days each) are crucial for a healthy growth and development of a child. Meanwhile this period is one of the largest transitions into a woman’s and man’s life with different physiological, psychological and social changes. The transition into parenthood can be seen as an important period of imprinting, impacting later health and wellbeing.

It is a vulnerable period where attention to psychosocial well-being is of great importance. Born in Belgium Professionals, which is a National Institute of Health and Disability (NIHD) project, is committed to an increased focus on questioning each pregnant woman and offering tailor-made care.

Target Community: Born in Belgium professionals is a digital platform developed by and for care providers that offers support in the needs assessment and follow-up of psychosocial well-being in the perinatal period.

Involvement & Engagement: More than 100 organisations were involved in the development phase.

Intervention: The digital platform offers an overview of the care providers involved; The care needs are mapped by means of a questionnaire tool; The answers in the tool lead to proposals for customised care; The platform facilitates referrals through integration with databases of the NIHD, Social Brussels, Social map Flanders, VVKP, VRGT, Fares,... ; The platform enables multidisciplinary consultation across primary and secondary care organisations; The platform is offered free of charge by the NIHD; The platform forms a shared file. The platform is integrated into the various Electronic Files or can be accessed via a web link.

The platform is aimed at all care actors working in the perinatal period: GP, gynaecologist, midwife, psychologist, social worker, non-profit organisation, .... Informative webinars and training around asking sensitive questions are offered.

Results: More than 1,500 women have already been followed up in the platform, the first results show a clear need for an integrated care approach.

Less than 1% of women refuse to participate, in over 95% of the cases all 13 indicators of psychosocial wellbeing are filled.  Over 87% of the women report at least one vulnerability. Proposed care pathways, including referrals, are used.

Lessons learned: Women are open to answering questions about their psychosocial wellbeing in a shared digital platform.

Integrated care pathways are initiated through the platform, all stakeholders involved have an overview of the current situation.

The concept of Born in Belgium Professionals can be extended to other care pathways and other stages of life.

Next steps: In terms of evaluation, we are planning a thorough analysis of entire care pathways. In terms of implementation, we will analyse the use of the platform along with barriers and facilitators to its use in practice, this will allow us to develop appropriate implementation strategies.

We plan the further roll-out of the platform in Flanders, Brussels and Wallonia.