Virtual reality headsets could help break down barriers in hospitals
The VR sets are aimed to help mums to be
Virtual reality headsets could soon be used to help migrant mums to be. A pilot scheme is currently being tested and is set to be rolled out at University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire.
The project will be a huge boost in the battle to improve the high level of infant mortality across the city. The latest figures show that the rate in Coventry stood at 5.9 for every 1,000 live births, putting it higher than the England average. Other data shows that 58.2 per cent of babies born in the city were to parents where at least one was born outside of the UK compared to the average of 30.3 per cent across England and Wales.
Speaking at this week’s (Wednesday) health and social care scrutiny board at Coventry City Council, director of public health Dr Allison Duggal explained what was being down to improve the situation.
She said: “There is a lot of work ongoing across the West Midlands around infant mortality. Some of our women from migrant backgrounds have particular issues. They may lack the language support required, it may be that they come with their own cultural views around pregnancy, childbirth and how to raise a child in those first few days and weeks.
“We are looking to assist with that and help with some of the signposting. We are looking to explain why things are done a particular way in this country and assist if people need additional help. In the system we have a specialist midwife to help.”
Policy development manager Inderjit Kaur added: “We have a virtual reality suite at the library and it was a case of how we could use that help some of the newly arrived communities understand how they can understand services. We created something tailored around how to access University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire. We had a focus group with refugees and asylum seekers to see what the barriers were and we worked with students at Coventry University.
“A pilot was developed and it was really successful. The NHS want to expand it into maternity services and we are piloting it in community centres and health hubs to understand what we can feed into the maternity services virtual reality experience.”
A 2023 report compiled by Healthwatch Coventry and city charity Carriers
of Hope captured the maternity experiences of asylum seekers and newly
arrived women. This highlighted challenges in navigating the system, accessing care including the financial barriers, communication problems,
poor experiences due to clinician attitudes, and lack of culturally sensitive care.
Dr Duggal explained how the VR sets aimed to help some of those patients and, ultimately, mums to be. She said: “It will talk you through how to get to UHCW and when you are there it will take you to the entrance and then guide you to speak to someone at reception. You are able to have an idea of what will happen when you go for your hospital appointment. We can have it in different languages and we are quite excited as are our NHS colleagues.”