A LAST minute ‘gift’ from the Government means Oxford is significantly closer to doubling the number of beds it can provide for the very sickest of newborn babies.

The Department of Health said last night it would give the John Radcliffe Hospital more than half of the money it needs to expand the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU). The unit treats very ill babies, many of whom are born dangerously premature.

At the end of last year, Oxford University Hospitals Trust applied for planning permission for a £5.5m extension next to the unit – which is the only newborn intensive care unit in the Thames Valley – to double the size of its operation to 20 cots. It came after the trust was forced to turn away 254 seriously-ill mothers and babies due to the lack of room in 2010.

Managers had hoped to raise the money through a public fundraising campaign and the trust’s own money.

But thanks to a £2.8m cash injection from Whitehall, the trust is even closer to achieving the build scheduled for 2013.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said the money was available thanks to savings made in ‘central capital budgets’ which allowed for the upgrading on NHS facilities.

He said: “This will mean that more patients in Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire will benefit from the latest world class equipment.”

Dr Eleri Adams, consultant neonatologist and director of the NICU, said: “The money will be invaluable in helping us to achieve our goal.”

About 200 babies are treated each year at the unit.

According to the latest trust figures, there has been a 13 per cent increase in intensive care activity so far this financial year compared to 2010 to 2011. This comes after a 32 per cent increase from 2007 to 2010.

Sixteen of the 20 intensive care cots will be in the new extension, which will allow for twice as much space around each cot, along with a new secure entrance, waiting area, reception and ward office.

The news has also been welcomed by mothers whose babies have been treated at the unit.

Laura Brewer, 48, from Old Minster Lovell, whose twins Jackson and Maia were treated at the unit in 2007, said: “It’s great news.

“We’ll never forget the help we had from the NICU.

“I can’t think of anywhere better for my twins to have been.”

Julie da Silva Moore, from SSNAP – the charity which supports the unit, added: “We’re really pleased. We know how much this expansion is needed and how much it means for parents not to have to be too far away from home when they have a newborn baby in intensive care. It’s a worrying time, and parents need to be able to have the support of friends and family and to be near to their babies.”