A SPECIALIST baby unit at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital needs to double in size to cope with a huge increase in demand for its expertise.

Last night the hospital confirmed that in the past 12 months it had been forced to turn away 254 seriously-ill babies or their mothers, because it did not have room to treat them.

Instead, the patients were sent to units in Bristol and Leicester.

The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, the only one of its kind in the Thames Valley, treats about 200 babies a year in 10 specially-equipped cots.

But the hospital says it needs double the number of cots to cope with an 80 per cent rise in the number of seriously-ill babies being born in the region over the past five years.

Extra nurses with specialist training will be needed to staff the expanded unit.

Dr Eleri Adams, a consultant neonatologist and director of the unit said: “It will be fantastic when we’re able to expand the unit. We don’t want to have to direct local mothers to other hospitals to deliver because we haven’t got enough cots available in Oxford.

“We’re an expert centre in this field and we want to provide the care that they and their babies need where they are nearer to home and the support of their families.”

Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust spokesman Susan Brown said despite predictions by the Office of National Statistics that there would be a fall in the birth rate for Oxfordshire, there had actually been a 23 per cent increase since 2002.

At the same time, the number of complex pregnancies and births has risen, made worse by issues such as obesity in mothers and increasing numbers of babies conceived through IVF treatment.

In 2009, the Oxford Mail revealed plans by the ORH trust, which runs the JR, to provide a new standalone building for the unit to cope with growing demand for its skills. The estimated cost was put at £25m.

However, the trust now said it was more likely that an extension to the existing unit, costing £3.5m, would instead be built.

Despite being highlighted as a priority, the trust has been told it will not be given extra funding for the expansion plan by the NHS South Central strategic health authority.

The hospital will have to find the money for the project from its own funds. Managers have not ruled out having to scrap other projects in order to pay for the work.

The proposals will be discussed by the trust board next week.

Ms Brown added: “We’re currently developing a business plan for an expansion adjacent to our current facilities, which will double our intensive care capacity from 10 to 20 cots.

“Although we were looking at a variety of options, including a completely new unit, these latest proposals are more affordable and will deliver the necessary number of extra cots to meet demand.

“The earliest date work might start is October and the earliest date work could be completed would be April 2012, but there are still quite a few hurdles to overcome.”