Parents of newborns that need to be cared for at King’s Mill Hospital’s neonatal unit will now be able to watch their babies’ progress, even if they can’t be at their bedside.

A new vCreate app at the Sutton hospital enables nursing staff to record videos of the babies in their care on an iPad and send them securely to parents’ smartphones and tablets.

The hospital, run by Sherwood Forest Hospitals Trust, is the first in the East Midlands to introduce an app of this kind.

The application is free for parents to use and has been launched at the hospital with help from the Emily Harris Foundation.

Founders of the charity, Clare and Neil Harris, of Clipstone, were keen to support the new technology to thank the unit for the support and care their first daughter, Emily, received, before she sadly died, aged five months, from a heart condition.

One mum who had twin girls, Esmee and Maya, on the neonatal unit at the launch tested the app.

Sammi Wood said: “I come to the unit every day to see the babies, but having to leave them is always so hard.

“Having this new app makes it a little easier as I know that I can see them whenever I want to on my phone at home.

“For parents who can’t always be on the unit with their babies, like Esmee and Maya’s dad, it definitely helps to put your mind at ease.”

Neonatal nurse at Sarah Roberts added: “We are over the moon and grateful that we are able to introduce this new feature on our neonatal unit. It’s a lovely tool, not only for parents but for other family members too who can’t always be at the hospital.

“We understand just how difficult it can be to have a baby in hospital, especially when parents need to go home and rest and can’t be with their baby all-hours.

“We hope that by being able to record the progress of their special babies we can help to reassure parents and families of their wellbeing and give them the reassurance they need when not with them.

“I also thank the Emily Harris Foundation on behalf of the trust.”

Clare Harris said: “We are delighted to be able to finance this new initiative. As a charity we have supported the neonatal unit for 10 years now and our primary aim is to make life a little easier for families who find themselves in this highly stressful situation.

“This technology will enable parents to both be reassured that their baby is okay when they cannot be there and will also capture moments that would otherwise be missed by the family.”

The foundation, which has supported the neonatal unit since 2008, has raised more than £100,000.

That has contributed to the provision of bags filled with useful goodies for hundreds of new parents, breastfeeding chairs, and giving new parents whose babies are on the neonatal unit bus tokens so that they can easily travel to the hospital.