CAMPAIGNERS fear critically ill and premature babies will be rushed down the A127 by ambulance under plans to shake up neonatal services at Southend Hospital. 

In a letter, seen by the Echo, the Mid and South Essex NHS Trust revealed proposals to “re-designate” Southend’s special care baby unit from Level 2 to Level 1 – resulting in a reduction in staff based on the unit. 

As a result, campaigners claim premature babies and their mums will be transferred from Southend Hospital to either Basildon or Broomfield.

Save Southend NHS worry the ambulance transfers will “increase the risk of something going wrong”. 

When asked by the Echo about premature babies being taken in ambulances along the A127, trust bosses stated last year 14 pregnant women were transferred from Southend maternity unit to other hospitals and there were “no issues”. 

A spokesman for campaign group Save Southend NHS said: “Critically ill babies won’t be able to be accommodated for at Southend. 

“Ambulance transfers increase the risk of something going wrong, as they do for any patients.

“Premature babies will be accommodated for out of the area, so parents will have to travel further to see their baby during an already stressful time. If a woman turned up in premature labour, they would be transferred to Basildon or Broomfield.

“It is very interesting that the trust denied plans to downgrade the unit months ago. Clinicians believe this is the first stage of downgrading Southend Hospital ‘via the back door’.”

However Alex Field, women and children’s medical director at Mid and South Essex NHS Trust, stated it was not about downgrading services, but instead “re-designating” the service.

He said he was confident it will mean staffing levels can be boosted at the paediatric assessment unit. 

Mr Field added: “This is absolutely not about downgrading services at Southend Hospital. We have been running the service as a special care baby unit as a pilot for over a year, delivering safer patient care for families.

“This re-designation means we can improve staffing levels in our paediatric assessment unit and provide the best possible care for the large number of children arriving at our emergency department in Southend.”