A new and improved neonatal unit will improve the experience of babies and parents, a hospital has said.

Sunderland Royal Infirmary has spent millions of pounds in charitable donations to refurbish its neonatal unit and provide new accommodation for parents to stay with their children.

Sunderland AFC player Luke O’Nien opened the unit at the hospital where both of his children were born.

He said the hospital team had given families “a really good start in life”.

During her visit, she met her new parents, Terri and Dalton Hodgen, to whom their son Jax was born prematurely.

“Seeing her smiling, seeing the baby happy and healthy is the most important thing, and it depends on these guys on the unit and the great service they provide here, how simply they do it,” O’Nien said.

Mr Hodgen said the care provided at the unit was impressive.

“You can’t ask for more,” he said.

“We go home at night and send pictures through an app of when he feeds, when he wakes up, when he goes to sleep.

“There’s some reassurance in knowing that it’s okay when we can’t be here.”

Executive medical director of South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust, Dr. Shaz Wahid said the improved facility was “much needed”.

“In the UK, one in 10 babies needs additional medical care in the neonatal period, and one in 100 babies needs intensive care,” Dr Wahid said. he said.

Seventeen babies can be cared for at the same time in the renewed unit.