Neonatal Unit at Leeds Children’s Hospital Launch Secure Video Diary

     

On Monday 25th March, Leeds Teaching Hospitals became the first Trust in England to use vCreate's Secure Video Diary across two hospital sites, with the launch of the service on the neonatal unit of the Leeds Children’s Hospital, one of the largest children's hospitals in the country.

In October 2017, St James’s University Hospital launched the system, which allows members of the neonatal team to record video updates of babies receiving care in the unit, and send them to their parents when they are apart. The video updates help to provide comfort and reassurance, and help minimise separation anxiety in parents when their babies are in the hospital, born too soon or too sick to go home.

Dawn Clements, Project Nurse for Family Integrated Care on the Neonatal Unit has seen the impact the service has had firsthand, and explains what it is like for parents with babies receiving specialist care in the unit:

"Babies on the Neonatal Unit can be admitted to hospital for several weeks or months and parents often have to return to work or care for their other children, so staying with their baby 24/7 is impossible."

Video updates are helping to keep parents connected to their babies during these periods, and are made during quieter periods on the unit, generally throughout the night. Families often wake up to these special moments that have been captured by their NICU teams.

The use of the technology has been funded by Leeds Cares, the official charity for the Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust. Ben Moore, Founder of vCreate said:

"Following the success of vCreate at St James’s Hospital, we are thrilled to see it launch at a second neonatal unit in the city. We are incredibly grateful to Leeds Cares for their support, charities such as this are playing a crucial role in helping us to deliver this service to families across the UK."

The launch was attended by Leeds TV who interviewed staff and families, you can watch it here.