Simpson Neonatal Unit Virtual Tour
Explore the Simpson Neonatal Unit in Edinburgh through an immersive 360° virtual tour created to help families feel more prepared before arriving. The tour combines walkthroughs, video, audio, information hotspots and accessibility features to make the neonatal environment feel more familiar, supportive and easier to understand.
Quick summary
Jack’s Star Tours created an immersive 360° virtual tour for the Simpson Neonatal Unit in Edinburgh to help families understand the environment before visiting. The tour includes detailed walkthroughs, educational video clips, information hotspots, multilingual support and text-to-speech, giving parents and families a calmer way to prepare for neonatal care.
Hospital Virtual Tours
360º Immersive Tour - Edinburgh Neonatal Unit
Project facts
Project: Simpson Neonatal Unit Virtual Tour
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Client/setting: NHS neonatal care environment
Audience: Parents, families, patients, staff and visitors
Purpose: Help families prepare before visiting and reduce anxiety around neonatal care
Features: 360° photography, immersive video, audio, information hotspots, multilingual support, text-to-speech and online hosting
Delivery: Browser-based virtual tour with remote hosting and updates
Brief
The Simpson Neonatal Unit in Edinburgh wanted a virtual tour that could help families feel more prepared before arriving. Neonatal care can feel emotional and unfamiliar, especially for parents seeing specialist equipment, clinical spaces and ward routines for the first time.
The aim was to create a calm, informative and accessible 360° experience that would familiarise families with the unit, explain what they may see, and provide supportive information before their visit.
The tour needed to be easy to access from home and suitable for a wide range of users, including families who may benefit from multilingual content, audio support and text-to-speech.
Process
1.
Strategic Planning
We began with a detailed planning stage, working closely with the neonatal team to understand the layout of the unit and the journey families may take through it. We reviewed the areas that would be most useful to show, including family-facing spaces, clinical areas, equipment zones and staff interaction points. This planning helped us decide where 360° images, immersive video and information hotspots would have the greatest value for families preparing to visit.
2.
Flexible Shooting Schedule
Filming in a neonatal unit requires sensitivity, flexibility and respect for the clinical environment. We arranged the shoot around the unit’s daily routine to minimise disruption and help staff, patients and families feel comfortable. Our non-intrusive filming approach allowed us to capture the spaces and messages needed for the tour while keeping patient care and staff workflow at the centre of the process.
3.
Capturing Raw Footage
We captured high-quality 360° images and video throughout the unit, focusing on the areas families are most likely to encounter during their neonatal journey. The tour content was designed to do more than show rooms. It helps explain the environment, introduce important spaces, and support families with visual and audio information before they arrive.
4.
Editing and Enhancement
After filming, the 360° images and video were carefully edited to create a polished and consistent experience. This included HDR image processing, colour correction, visual clean-up and the seamless integration of immersive video into the virtual tour. The aim was to create a calm, clear and professional tour that felt supportive rather than overwhelming.
5.
Adding Interactive Elements
Information hotspots were added throughout the tour to provide helpful context at the right moment. These can explain what families are looking at, introduce staff messages, highlight important areas and guide users through what to expect during their visit. This makes the tour more useful than a static 360° walkthrough, turning it into a practical preparation tool for families.
6.
Multilingual Support
The tour was built with accessibility and inclusion in mind. Multilingual content and text-to-speech help more families access important information in a format that works for them. This is particularly important in hospital environments, where clear communication can make a real difference to confidence, preparation and reassurance.
7.
Tour Delivery
The finished virtual tour was hosted online for fast and reliable access. It can be viewed in a browser, embedded into a hospital or charity website, and updated remotely as the unit’s needs change. This gives the hospital a flexible digital resource that families can access before visiting, without requiring a separate app or complex technical setup.
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Outcome
Reduced Anxiety
The virtual tour helps families explore the Simpson Neonatal Unit from home before arriving in person. By seeing the environment in advance, families can become more familiar with the unit, understand what they may encounter, and feel more prepared for their visit.
Enhanced Familiarity
The detailed walkthroughs, video content and information hotspots provide a clearer picture of the neonatal environment. Families can explore key areas at their own pace, helping to make the unit feel less unknown and more approachable.
Inclusive Experience
Multilingual support and text-to-speech make the tour more accessible for families with different language needs, reading preferences and accessibility requirements. This helps more people access the same core information before visiting.
Conclusion
The Simpson Neonatal Unit Virtual Tour shows how immersive 360° technology can support families before a hospital visit. By combining visual familiarisation, video, audio, information hotspots and accessibility features, the tour helps make a difficult and emotional journey feel a little more prepared, familiar and supported.
Understanding Your Needs
A successful hospital virtual tour is not just about photography. It needs to understand the needs of patients, families, staff and the clinical environment. We plan each tour around the people who will use it, making sure the experience is clear, useful and sensitive to the setting.
Non-Intrusive Approach
We work flexibly around busy healthcare teams and use a low-impact filming approach to minimise disruption. This helps staff, patients and families feel more comfortable while allowing us to capture the content needed to support future visitors.
Empathy and Experience
With firsthand experience of neonatal care, we understand how emotional and stressful a hospital journey can feel for families. That experience shapes how we plan, film and build each tour, with care, patience and respect for everyone involved.
Expertise and Technology
We combine healthcare-focused planning with immersive 360° production, video, audio, translation, text-to-speech, accessibility features and online delivery. Each tour is built around the needs of the hospital, department and audience.
