BASINGSTOKE hospital's neonatal unit is back in its usual location after a fire scare earlier this week.

The neonatal unit at Basingstoke hospital has been restored to its usual location in the Sherborne Building, meaning that all services are now fully functional and back to normal.

After reports of a fire in the neonatal unit, firefighters were called out at 9.25pm on Monday night, but the incident turned out to be a false alarm caused by smoke or steam coming from a overheated pump.

No babies were harmed in the incident and were safely transferred to elsewhere in the hospital.

While investigations and repair work were carried out, maternity services at the hospital were initially suspended before they began to return to normality yesterday and were fully operational by yesterday afternoon.

The maintenance issue that led to the temporary relocation of the neonatal unit has now been resolved. The area was deep cleaned and a number of final checks carried out before the babies being treated there were able to return and today Hampshire Hospitals confirmed the unit is back in its usual location.

Alex Whitfield, chief executive of Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We apologise for the inconvenience and concern this situation has caused, both for women using our maternity services and the families of babies on the neonatal unit.

“I’d also like to say a huge thank you to all of the staff who were involved in relocating the unit, making sure that the issue was resolved and ensuring that the area was ready for the babies to return to. It has been a real team effort. The neonatal and maternity staff across all of our sites did a fantastic job of continuing to provide the same level of care to women and babies in our care.”