CONTROVERSIAL plans to “downgrade” the neonatal unit at Southend Hospital will help tackle the backlog of more than 1,000 children waiting more than a year for treatment, it has been claimed.

The Mid and South Essex NHS Trust wants to “re-designate” Southend Hospital’s level two neonatal unit, which is able to care for babies from 27 weeks gestation, to a level one special care baby unit caring for babies from 32 weeks.

The trust said it would enable better use of its specialised staff and Nicki Abbott, managing director of women and children’s services at the trust, has revealed it will cut shocking waiting times for children needing medical and surgical treatment across south Essex.

Speaking at a meeting of Thurrock Council’s people overview and scrutiny committee, Ms Abbott said: “We have been proposing to re-designate one of our neo natal units as a level one special care baby unit. Those are the kind of decisions we’re having to make to redirect more resource on an ongoing basis towards children that are waiting for appointments through our paediatric service.

“We’ve got to work out how we best use our resources in a way that brings benefit to the largest number of children and so we think a re-designation of the unit at Southend will enable that to happen.”

Ms Abbott revealed as of August 22 there were seven children waiting over 78 weeks, 242 waiting more than 65 weeks and just over 1,000 children waiting more than a year for treatment at either Basildon, Southend or Broomfield hospitals.

Ms Abbott said the trust aimed to reduce waiting times for children to 26 weeks by March 2025.

Former Independent Southend councillor Tricia Cowdrey has campaigned against the downgrading of the Southend unit.

She said: “Yes, we have children awaiting appointments, which is wrong. The help to do this should come directly from Government, not by cutting essential services. Decisions should not be taken without full consultation, which the people scrutiny committee in Southend have asked for.”

Owen Richards, chief officer at Healthwatch Southend, said: “We would want waiting times for all residents, across all specialties to be brought down quickly and safely. We know that parents want services to be as local as possible, but we are also hearing from clinical staff that the best way of keeping skills up is to centralise and deliver the best outcomes for very small babies.”