Pukka-j has created a new and innovative way for pregnant women to be able to access and share digital pictures and video from their ultrasound scans.

Recently, the company carried out a pilot run of the software and found the reactions from those involved in the trial to be extremely positive, with one mother-to-be commenting, “MeetmiBaby was so easy to use and the pictures are great quality; it makes it so much simpler to share with family and friends.”

The new service, which is being marketed under the brand “MeetmiBaby™, has been developed in response to a request from an NHS Trust to help them streamline their procedure for supplying pregnant women with pictures of their baby scans. Pukka-j, by supplying an e-commerce solution, removes the need for the hospital to deal with direct payments, as a selection of images after the diagnostic scan are sent direct from the modality to a MeetmiBaby picture processing service, which resides in the Trust’s IT environment. The images are uploaded to a secure ‘cloud’, where parents-to-be are able to find their baby scans via a unique identification code and preview their gallery to select which ones they would like to buy.

The pictures and video are delivered in a variety of ways to make life as simple as possible for users. After purchase they can be downloaded directly from the website, and the purchaser also receives a personalised email with their chosen baby scan products attached.

Initial results have shown the baby products to be available for purchase within minutes of the scan and because they are digital, they can be copied and shared with grandparents and friends via social networking or email or print. The emails to mothers-to-be are an easy way for them to access their purchases from any device they have available, on which they can receive emails; smart phones, tablets and PCs. Access to download the baby scans from the internet provides great flexibility in delivery of the product.

Another mother-to-be taking part in the trial responded enthusiastically with the comment, “Taking a good photo of a baby scan is really difficult! MeetmiBaby was so easy to use and the pictures are great quality. Being able to print my baby scan was such a bonus; it made sharing our wonderful news with my loved ones so much easier by giving them one of my special pictures to keep forever.”

Pukka-j is working with the NHS to develop innovative maternity social imaging services for their mothers-to-be.

Pukka-j, a UK based specialist medical technology company, announces that it will be offering a new service for pregnant women. ‘MeetmiBaby’ has the potential to revolutionise the process and experience of ultrasound scanning for mothers-to-be who attend the hospital for scans and would like to have a personal record of the scan. Pukka-j has outstanding reputation for ‘outside the box’ solutions, and the launch of this new service fits with the company’s IT skills. MeetmiBaby is a technology service that has been developed to improve the experience for the mother-to-be and quality of the baby scan pictures supplied for social use.

The procedures at present for mothers-to-be to obtain an image of their scan vary from site to site. Sometimes, they are supplied by the sonographer completing the scan and at other sites a token is provided which can be exchanged for a thermal print. During discussions regarding implementation of a new system, it was decided not to improve the existing service, the coin machine that provided a token or a photo booth that printed off the copies, and instead to replace it with a ‘high tech paperlight’, digital option.

Pukka-j’s e-commerce solution removes the need for the hospital to deal with direct payments as the images are sent from the modality to a MeetmiBaby picture processing service, which resides in the Trust’s IT environment. On receipt of diagnostic images, the picture processing service redacts data by blacking out the burnt-in study details to anonymise the data for the maternity social pictures (Jpegs) and video (Mpegs). Once in a social format the MeetmiBaby, picture processor service creates a unique code and QR code which is printed by hospital staff and handed to the mother-to-be.

The social pictures and video are packaged and sent to a secure MeetmiBaby cloud ready for the mother-to-be, to log-in to a MeetmiBaby e-commerce web shop, to view her ‘bespoke’ baby gallery, from which she can choose and purchase on line, ready to share the baby scan ‘high resolution’ pictures and video with family and friends.

Louise Crossley, Business Development/Commercial Director at Pukka-j says, “MeetmiBaby™” is a brand new way of receiving and paying for a baby scan picture and obviously the way forward. It is designed to assist parents-to-be to get the very best out of their hospital scans. We think it has great potential and we are hoping to develop this service through hospitals and ultrasound vendors”

One of the main advantages of the service is that the technology enables easy sharing to popular social networking sites including FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM and TWITTER. Other benefits include the availability of premium baby scan pictures and choice of pictures, a user-friendly website, and the possibility to purchase scans for up to ninety days, providing secure online payment options. The images can be downloaded to a smart phone, tablet, laptop or PC.

Pukka-j anticipate being able to implement a pilot project using the new software in the next two to three months.