EXPECTANT parents in Bradford have been able to to access free online antenatal support via Zoom during the Covid-19 crisis.

As its usual antenatal education projects couldn’t deliver any services face-to-face during the lockdown, Better Start Bradford decided to develop virtual classes for pregnant women to ensure they continued to receive professional advice and support.

Better Start Bradford’s doctors Dr Michelle Everitt and Dr Elizabeth Pal and midwife Alison Brown, took up the challenge to develop a series of antenatal classes that could be delivered live virtually by Zoom. The first pilot session began on April 30.

There are four different virtual sessions and they are all delivered on a rolling basis once a fortnight covering having a Healthy and Happy Pregnancy; Preparing for Birth; Giving Birth and Feeding and Sleeping. Participants can join in as few or as many as they wish.

Dr Michelle Everitt, Registrar in Public Health said: “We recognised that there was a need to remain in touch with pregnant women offering antenatal support and education during the lockdown and so we quickly developed the free virtual programme working alongside our partners and local maternity services.

“We realised that expecting pregnant women to commit to attending a full course of sessions was unrealistic during Covid-19 for many parents, so we decided to develop four live sessions to be repeated frequently. This meant that participants could access them when convenient, with no obligation to attend all four in a row, making this different to pre-existing antenatal offers.”

Gill Thornton, Head of Programme, Better Start Bradford, added: “While Covid-19 has put life on hold as we know it, expectants parents were unable to put a hold on their pregnancy and we saw a need to provide virtual antenatal support.

"Our Better Start Bradford doctors, midwives and partners have done a wonderful job in quickly developing an effective online flexible programme not just for Better Start Bradford families, but for all expectant parents across Bradford.

The virtual antenatal classes will continue until face to face classes are back up and running across Bradford. They currently run on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2pm via Zoom. To request a place email hello@betterstartbradford.org.uk.