THE NUMBER of previously well children falling seriously ill has dropped, doctors caring for some of the South West’s sickest children have said.

Dr Peter Davis, paediatric intensive care consultant at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, said that fewer children were being treated at his intensive care unit who had fallen critically ill after previously being well.

Instead, doctors were spending more of their time looking after children with chronic conditions.

The overall number of children being cared for at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children’s intensive care unit has remained relatively level over the last decade. On average since 2005, 681 children have treated at the unit each year.

The hospital is where sick children from Swindon, who may require specialist care, are generally looked after. GWH does not have a specialist children's intensive care unit.

Bristol consultant Dr Peter Davis said: “Our Paediatric Intensive Care Unit treats children in critical conditions 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and supports families through some of their toughest times.

“Over the past 10 years we’ve not seen a dramatic change in the demographic of our patients, but in general we see fewer children who become critically ill after having previously been well, in comparison to the number of children we treat with complex, chronic conditions.

“This is the case across the Western world, thanks to immunisations reducing the number of healthy children becoming seriously unwell and improvements in medical care meaning that more children with long-term conditions are surviving.”

His comments contrast with the findings of a new study, published in Archives of Disease in Childhood.

Analysing admissions data from paediatric intensive care units across England and Wales, researchers found that the number of children admitted to the specialist wards has surged since 2009.

Researchers suggested that migration to the UK from Eastern Europe and South Asia could be a factor in the rise.