North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare is pioneering the use of virtual tours of its mental health services to allow service users and their loved ones to preview the facilities they will be using. In doing so, the Trust is breaking down barriers to accessing mental healthcare facilities by dispelling myths or misconceptions about what modern, compassionate NHS mental healthcare looks and feels like.
The increasing use of digital technology to increase access to NHS care is one of the three central pillars of the Government’s Ten Year Plan for the NHS, published in July.
Sarah and Barry
The use of virtual tours is being highlighted this week through the launch of a new film called ‘Sarah and Barry – a 360 degree virtual walkthrough of Ward 4’. We are grateful for the partnership and contribution of Matterport and Spliced Films in working with us to make this film.
Barry is a service user at Ward 4 at our Harplands Hospital with dementia.
In this short film, we meet Barry and his daughter, Sarah. Before she agreed to her Dad being admitted to Ward 4, Sarah was able to use our 360 degree virtual tour of Ward 4 to see the facilities and allay any concerns or preconceptions she may have had about what a mental health facility looks like.
We also hear from Dr Becky Chubb, Deputy Clinical Director, and Joe McCrea, Associate Director of Communications, about the clinical and engagement benefits brought to the Trust and its services and service users through the use of 360 degree tours.
You can watch the film below:
You can view the virtual tour of Ward 4 below:
Combined Virtual Reality Programme
The virtual tours can be viewed through any normal web browser or, for a fully immersive experience,, through using a VR headset such as Apple Vision Pro or Oculus. The development of 360 degree tours at Combined Healthcare is an initiative delivered through our Combined Virtual Reality (CVR) programme.
You can read about our further innovation in virtual reality here.
