DETECTIVES are ploughing through hundreds of medical records to investigate injuries suffered by premature babies at Princess Alexandra Hospital.

Files on babies treated at the hospital's neo-natal unit, dating back to the mid-80s, are being checked after a 10-day-old baby boy's leg was broken while he was being cared for at the unit in July.

The Essex police child protection team has also revealed that it is investigating two other cases where premature babies have suffered minor injuries, as well as searching records for similar incidents.

Two experienced nurses from the specialist unit have been suspended following the investigations and the Harlow hospital has enforced new measures to minimise the risk of further incidents being repeated.

Essex and Herts Community NHS Trust's corporate services manager Clive Appleby said "one or two" parents had expressed concerns about the care their babies had received at the special unit since the mid-80's.

And he said the trust could not give 100 per cent reassurance that their children were not at risk from injury, but he added: "We are taking action to keep in contact with the parents involved."

The baby boy at the centre of the investigations weighed just over 2lb 8oz when he was born five weeks prematurely in the intensive care unit.

During his course of treatment he suffered a broken thigh bone, which police believe was caused by rough handling or deliberate pressure being applied.

Since investigations were launched, the hospital has introduced new measures whereby all the unit's nurses must attend to babies in pairs and are not on their own.

Trust Chief Executive Sally Gorham said: "As soon as we were aware of the incident we started a formal investigation and we have brought in outside experts to help us.

"We have expressed our sincere regrets to the parents and I would like to reassure parents of babies on the unit that measures have been taken to ensure that no similar incident is likely to happen again."

She added that the safety of the children was the "first and paramount consideration" and said she expected internal investigations to be completed by the end of this month.

All the unit's staff are being questioned about the incidents involving the three injured babies and their concerns about the treatment of other children on the unit.

Police have made no charges or arrests, but one of the two suspended nurses is due to be questioned by police again this week.

An Essex Police spokeswoman said they were receiving full co-operation from hospital staff and the Essex and Herts Community NHS Trust.

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