New app helps Essex parents keep connected with their newborn twins being treated in hospital nearly 60 miles apart

• Watch a report by ITV News Anglia's Charlie Frost

Having a baby prematurely is an anxious time for any parent, but for Jane and Alex Askew from Colchester in Essex, the worry didn't stop there.

They had their twins almost two months early, three days into the national lockdown, during the global coronavirus pandemic.

Their boys, James and Freddie, were born at Ipswich Hospital by c-section on the 26th of March, where they spent two weeks being cared for on Framlingham Neonatal Unit.

They were then both transferred to Colchester Hospital's Neonatal Unit.

Due to Covid-19, visiting was restricted to one parent at a time.

This was made worse Freddie had to be moved 60 miles away to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge for specialist treatment.

However, a new app called vCreate helped Jane and Alex stay connected to their new borns, and help ease the separation anxiety they felt when they weren't able to see both boys every day.

The app works by nurses on the neonatal unit uploading pictures and updates and then sending them to mums and dads.

It meant Jane and Alex had markers of milestones they had perhaps missed out on and they had pictures to share with family who couldn't visit the boys at all.

The free, NHS trusted app was first launched at Colchester and Ipswich hospitals when hospital visiting had to be restricted due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Staff on the neonatal ward at Colchester Hospital have been trained to use the app and say it really does help ease the anxiety of loved ones, especially because parents can access it all day.

As soon as patients are discharged from hospital families can download the pictures and videos to keep.

For data security and privacy reasons the account is then permanently deleted.

After six weeks in hospital for James and nine for Freddie, they're both now at home with proud first time mum and dad in Colchester, and are doing well.