Mums-to-be and their partners across Herefordshire and Worcestershire can now have guided tours of their local maternity services from the comfort of their own home, thanks to a series of new videos.

Informative virtual tours of the neonatal intensive care units (NICU) and postnatal wards at both Hereford County Hospital and Worcestershire Royal Hospital are now available.

It is hoped the videos will help to familiarise parents-to-be with both areas, provide information and advice around how to access the departments and what to expect if admitted, and reduce any anxieties that they may be feeling before their baby is born.

Hazel Brookes, quality improvement midwife at Herefordshire and Worcestershire Local Maternity and Neonatal System (LMNS), said: “We hope that these new videos will provide information as well as reassurance to parents to be who might have questions and anxieties around what it might be like in hospital following the birth of their baby.

“By being able to ‘visit’ the neonatal and postnatal areas of their local hospitals in advance, we aim to reassure them that friendly staff are on hand to provide safe, quality care to them and their baby, and give an insight into what the ward or area they or their baby will be staying in is like, including practical information like how to locate it, what the daily routines are like and when partners can visit.”

The videos are available via the maternity and neonatal pages on both Trust’s websites at: www.worcsacute.nhs.uk or www.wyevalley.nhs.uk or on the LMNS website at: www.birthways.nhs.uk/birthwaystv/