{"id":423591,"date":"2026-02-13T12:45:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T12:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/423591\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T12:45:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T12:45:11","slug":"new-app-helps-families-to-navigate-edinburgh-childrens-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/423591\/","title":{"rendered":"New app helps families to navigate Edinburgh Children’s Hospital"},"content":{"rendered":"

Edinburgh Royal Hospital for Children and Young People (RHCYP) has introduced a personal navigation app to help families travel straight from their front door to the correct ward.<\/p>\n

The app was launched in an effort to help ease the stress of hospital visits for families.<\/p>\n

Created by Waymap, the app uses personal navigation technology to give visitors step-by-step guidance both inside and outside the hospital by integrating with bus and train timetables.<\/p>\n

Gilly Bain\u2019s three-year-old daughter Finty and six-year-old daughter Mackenzie have been admitted to the RHCYP numerous times with recurrent RSV and other ailments.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s experienced first hand the anxiety of trying to figure out where to go when arriving for an unexpected hospital visit.<\/p>\n

Gilly said: \u201cI think any parent, when you\u2019re coming in with an ill child, your blood pressure is absolutely through the roof and it is daunting and stressful and confusing sometimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you just don\u2019t know where you\u2019re going, it\u2019s quite a big space.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think anything that can lighten the mental load of a parent in a moment of stress is absolutely brilliant.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheSTV NewsThe Waymap App. STV News<\/p>\n

The technology \u2013 which is available in multiple languages \u2013 stemmed from an idea to help young blind children navigate the London Underground independently, making it simple and easy to use.<\/p>\n

Dr Olivia Swann, paediatric infectious diseases consultant at NHS Lothian, said she was eager to find a solution to help families in what can often be a stressful time.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cMy colleagues and I realised we were spending a lot of time helping anxious families find their way around the hospital. I was sure we could do this better.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy research led me to Waymap and their innovative way of helping people navigate complex indoor settings.\u201d<\/p>\n

The technology is already used in transport hubs, shopping centres and sports stadiums around the world but this is the first time it\u2019s been introduced in a health care setting, thanks to funding from Edinburgh Children\u2019s Hospital Charity.<\/p>\n

Roslyn Neely, the charity\u2019s CEO, said: \u201cHospital visits can already be a daunting experience, especially for children and families with additional needs. This ground-breaking technology removes one of the biggest sources of anxiety \u2013 finding your way.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only will it make journeys to the hospital much simpler by guiding people directly to where they need to be, it will also help to ease anxiety, break down language barriers, and reduce missed appointments.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"WhatsApp<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Edinburgh Royal Hospital for Children and Young People (RHCYP) has introduced a personal navigation app to help families…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-423591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}