Health chiefs have launched an investigation into the number of intensive care baby cots in Yorkshire after the parents of premature twins were told the tots may have to be moved from York to Manchester shortly after they were born.

Twins Jack and Ryan Murrie weighed less than 2lb, or a bag of sugar, when they were born in York 14 weeks premature.

But a day or two after they were born, York District Hospital's special care baby unit said they did not have enough specially-trained staff to care for the babies.

As reported in the Evening Press, the twins were only spared an ambulance journey across the Pennines when St James's Hospital in Leeds said it would be able to accommodate them.

Dr Peter Kennedy, chief executive of York NHS Trust, told the trust board today that a detailed report was being prepared to look into the situation.

He said: "We have only two intensive care beds for babies with specialist nurses, but national policy says that no hospital should be self-sufficient because these are extremely expensive beds and because of the fluctuation in demand.

"It is expected that babies will be transferred between hospitals and there is usually a hospital within 25 miles, usually Leeds.

"The question that has been raised is whether Yorkshire needs to raise its capacity."

He said the report would look at how many children were being transferred, and where to, and whether that number was going up.

Intensive care baby beds cost £140,000 a year, including the salaries of specialist nurses.

A spokesman for St James's Hospital said today the twins' condition was stable.

At the time of the incident Dr Ray Marks, executive medical director for York NHS Trust, said York Trust would like to increase the number of intensive care cots in York from two to three.

But this would require an extra four nurses to provide round-the-clock cover, and such an expansion would require the agreement of North Yorkshire Health Authority.

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