Video platform helps keep Sussex families close to their newborns in wards this Christmas
Report by ITV News Meridian's Malcolm Shaw
Having your baby born prematurely is extremely worrying but imagine what it's like in the middle of the pandemic.
Parents can only visit their baby in hospital one at a time, but in Sussex, a system called 'V-Create' is allowing nurses to send videos and photos home so families can see how things are going on the ward.
Little Flo Hall was born three months early.
Her first eight weeks spent here on the Trevor Mann Baby Unit at the Royal Sussex County Hospital.
Her parents were able to visit her, but only one at a time.
So staff in the unit sent videos and photos home, letting everyone in the family share in Flo's progress.
Paige Hall, Flo's mother:
The system called vCreate Neonatal uses a secure cloud-based video platform, keeping nurses, babies and their families as close as they safely can be in the midst of the pandemic.
The video platform is being used at both the Royal Sussex and the Princess Royal in Haywards Heath.
It's funded by the Early Birth Association, which is also busy rolling out its Christmas Cheer campaign.
Heidi Crawford, Early Birth Association:
Meanwhile, the Hall family have the best possible Christmas present.
Baby Flo home safe and sound.