More than 200 seriously-ill young patients have now been treated in the lifesaving unit your money paid for.

Readers of The Press spent three years fundraising for the state-of-the-art high-dependency unit on York Hospital's children’s ward – reaching the £300,000 target a year ago.

Their efforts have completely transformed the way York’s sickest children are cared for, and mean the hospital is also in much better position to cope with a potential swine flu pandemic.

Babies and children now have immediate access to first-class high-dependency facilities, enabling doctors to start their treatment straight away rather than waiting for equipment to be taken from other parts of the hospital.

Previously, some of these young patients would have been transferred to cities like Hull and Sheffield for their treatment because York Hospital did not have facilities such as a CPAP breathing machine for babies.

Maureen Augey, Guardian Angels project nurse at the hospital, said: “It has been fabulous to have this unit and be able to provide the service to the people of York.

“Parents haven’t had to worry about their children going to Leeds or another city for their treatment and the feedback we’ve had from families has been really positive.

“There are now other high-dependency units in the planning stages at district hospitals throughout England and they are using us as a model, which is excellent.”

Since the appeal reached its target, fundraising has continued to buy even more equipment for the unit.

Dr Robin Ball, a consultant paediatrician at York Hospital, said they now had enough money to buy a new £8,000 intensive care pod and £9,000 monitor, which would be used to transfer critically-ill babies to other hospitals for treatment.

He said the next goal would be to buy a £6,000 bedside blood gas analyser, enabling doctors to get results of various blood tests within 30 seconds, rather than waiting 30 minutes for it to go through a laboratory.

If you would like to donate money to the Guardian Angels charity, make cheques out to Guardian Angels York, and send them to Guardian Angels, Foss House, 271 Huntington Road, York, YO31 9BR.

Story by kind permission of The Press.