Health Reporter CHARLOTTE PERCIVAL looks at how the current children's unit will be transformed after the necessary £300,000 is raised in the Evening Press Guardian Angels appeal.

THIS is where the sickest children in York are nursed back to health.

The most poorly children in the city come through these doors, where a team of consultants, doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and other staff guide them on the road to recovery.

Children with serious illnesses such as meningitis, septicaemia, bronchiolitis, convulsions, coma or trauma are treated here, often cared for in one of the rooms opposite the nurses' station.

But when the Guardian Angels appeal has raised £300,000, these simple rooms will be transformed into high-dependency areas with brand-new specialised equipment.

Paediatric consultant Robin Ball said his vision involved knocking down half the wall at the window end between the two rooms, to create space for a nursing station and storage.

The bed and cot - a bed for older children and a cot or incubator for infants - would be stationed at either side of the wall with equipment fixed to the wall.

There will also be comfortable reclining chairs for parents staying with their children.

Those who need intensive care treatment will also be cared for here until a team from Leeds can reach York to transfer them.

At the moment, children needing transfer are looked after in an operating theatre block or in the hospital's Accident and Emergency unit because there is not enough space or equipment to keep them on the ward.

Dr Ball said the unit would give staff the tools to give children the best care they could at York Hospital.

"Our hope is that at the end of all this there will be an area of the ward dedicated to the treatment of the sickest children with all the equipment that these children need ready and waiting when they come into hospital rather than their having to share it with other children," he said.

"Children will be able to receive treatment with no delay because they will not have to wait while we decide whether to take equipment from one child and give it to another, or wait while it is cleaned.

"It will mean that we can make high dependency care a lot smoother and a lot more speedy."

Jill Crampton, matron in children's services, said it would make the care of extremely ill children safer, providing for their needs as staff worked with colleagues in Leeds to manage children who may need intensive care.

"At the moment the first thing that would happen to a child requiring high-dependency care is that we would ensure we could stabilise them as best we could, and do some investigation, set up IV lines and give them treatments depending on what illness we're dealing with," she said.

"We care for them in cubicles where we constantly monitor their condition, looking at signs and symptoms all the time.

"With the new unit, first and foremost the principle would be the same, but we would have a purpose-built environment with the right equipment on hand immediately.

"We're going to have more equipment and with new equipment there are standards around the use of it.

"It (the new unit) would help us detect any change in our patient's condition more quickly, look after them better and be a little bit safer."

How you can help the Guardian Angels appeal

CAN you help the Evening Press Guardian Angels appeal ?

We need every penny you can raise to ensure we reach our ambitious £300,000 target.

If you want to hold a fundraising event in aid of our appeal, we'd be delighted to hear from you.

We'll give you some vital publicity to help make your effort a resounding success.

Just phone our newsdesk on (01904) 653051, or email us at newsdesk@ycp.co.uk.

If you log on to our website, thisisyork.co.uk, and click on our appeal logo, you will be directed through to a special section where you can download a poster which you can use to help publicise your fundraiser.

If you would like to make a donation, however large or small, please make a cheque or postal order out to Evening Press Guardian Angels Appeal and send it to: Evening Press Guardian Angels Appeal, Charlotte Percival, Newsroom, Evening Press, 76-86 Walmgate, York YO1 9YN.

Please put your name and address on the envelope. Please don't send cash, and please don't send donations directly to the hospital.

Thank you!

Updated: 10:11 Thursday, October 13, 2005