THE most severely premature babies could soon be treated closer to home.

Colchester General Hospital is upgrading its special care baby unit to become a high dependency centre – a level two unit – over the next two years at a cost of £700,000.

It means some very sick babies who require more specialist care will not have to be transferred out of the area.

At present they could be sent to hospitals in London, Cambridge or Norfolk.

Lindsey Harding-Payne, special care baby unit ward manager, said: “It will be good for the families because we will be able to keep some of the smaller babies here.

“Originally any babies who were ten weeks early or less we would keep at Colchester unless they really need intensive care.

“We have already started keeping babies who are 11 weeks early and over the next year or so we will start to drop that even further.”

Mrs Harding-Payne explained the unit is working towards providing enough staff and specialist equipment to allow it to be a level two unit.

They will have to pass an assessment by a specialist NHS commissioning team before they get the go-ahead.

She said: “We have two years to achieve all this and then we will be inspected.

“It would be fantastic for the parents and the children.”

Mrs Harding-Payne said the upgrade will mean parents will not have to make the difficult decision about whether they stay with the baby.

She continued: “It can get very expensive for families if they have to keep travelling to visit the baby.

“If mothers have other children, they often have to choose whether to stay with the new baby or to look after their existing children.

“If a baby is born 15 weeks early, it could be staying out of the county for two months before it is well enough to come back.

“This can be a big expense, but once our unit is a level two, we will be looking after those children.”

ONE mum who knows all too well about the work of the special care baby unit is Caroline Smith. Her daughter Charlotte, now five, was born ten weeks premature weighing just 2lbs 11oz. She spent 50 days under the care of the unit before being allowed home. Mrs Smith said: “The care she received was absolutely brilliant. “I wasn’t expecting to have a premature baby, but we were shown around the unit, so I think the staff thought it might happen. My husband Matt went back to work, but I was going to visit her every morning and then going back in the evening with him. “It’s hard because she was given a blood transfusion and there are all these machines beeping, but the staff were great at explaining how she was and what they were doing. “Now I think it did Charlotte a favour being around for longer. “She’s quite bright and she knows a lot more than I did at her age.”