NEW parents at a specialist hospital unit for premature and sick babies now have somewhere safe to store their belongings thanks to a Teesside charity and a building society.

Neoangels, which supports families and staff on the Neonatal Unit at the James Cook University Hospital, was asked if it could raise money to buy some secure lockers for parents to use while their babies were being treated on the unit.

With the areas around the unit’s 35 incubators having to be kept almost completely clear for health reasons and the existing parent lockers having broken doors and lost keys, parents had been forced to leave their belongings in places which weren't secure.

Neoangels approached Newcastle Building Society for support for the project, and were awarded £2,630 this, has enabled it to buy 21 new numbered lockers which have been installed just outside the unit.

Neoangels was set up in 2015 by Kirsty and Shaun Lowther after their twins Noah and Ava were born prematurely and cared for at the North Tees Neonatal Unit.