A virtual tour of the Poole Hospital neonatal unit has gone live.
It enables families to ‘visit’ the ward and get a better understanding of what to expect if their child needs neonatal care.
The 3D tour is available on the hospital trust’s website and can either be watched in one go or navigated at the user’s own pace.
Information tags have been added to explain the different areas of the neonatal unit and the equipment to help people familiarise themselves with the clinical area.
Lucy Fairbrass, Deputy Sister for the unit, pictured, said: “Within the tour they will see the layout of the unit and can hear typical sounds of the clinical environment.
“There are informational tags that identify medical equipment used, areas parents would access frequently and facilities available for families if they have a baby on the neonatal unit.
“We hope the tour will help potential families prepare and know a little more about what to expect if their baby needs specialist care from our team at Poole.
“Our hope is that this will help families to visualise where their baby will be cared for, reduce uncertainty and therefore increase the family’s wellbeing.”
The Poole tour can be watched here.
The tours can also be used by families whose children were cared for previously in the unit.
It was produced in collaboration with the Thames Valley and Wessex Neonatal Partnership which is working towards having tours of all 14 units in the region.