Newborn webcam goes live

ACT Minister for Health, Katy Gallagher MLA, said today that a new webcam service will overcome the tyranny of distance for new parents who cannot regularly visit their babies in Canberra Hospital’s Centre for Newborn Care.

Launching the service, Ms Gallagher said that not all parents were able to visit their sick babies daily due to other child care responsibilities, work or because they lived long distances from the hospital so the webcam would provide a little relief in what was a very stressful time for mums and dads.

“The adverse implications for family of a premature infant include physical and emotional separation and alienation from their babies which strains the early parent-infant bonding process,”
Ms Gallagher said.

“To support the bonding process staff can demonstrate to parents via the webcam how to care for the baby, how to change and feed it and how to administer medication if necessary.”

Canberra Hospital’s Centre for Newborn Care (CNC) is the first Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in Australia to implement a webcam service. A webcam is installed above the baby’s cot in the CNC so that families can see their baby on their home computer via the internet.

The NICUCAM website provides parents with general information on the services provided by the CNC and can be accessed by the public (www.nicucam.com.au).

“Parents can also view their own baby daily from 7 – 9am and from 5 – 7pm by using a secure password,” Ms Gallagher said.

“The CNC admits more than 600 babies a year and approximately 40 per cent of the parents do not reside in the ACT, so there are many reasons why parents can’t always visit their babies in the CNC.

“The parents can also provide the password to other relatives in Australia or overseas if they wish, thereby including other relatives, particularly grandparents and siblings, in the bonding process.”

There is potential for further enhancement of this service at the future Women’s & Children’s Hospital to include audio facilities, interactive communication between CNC staff and parents, and the creation of personal baby diaries.

The ACT Government allocated $200,000 in the 2008-09 Budget to implement and develop this service for parents with babies in the CNC.

11 January 2010