The second floor of Swindon's Great Western Hospital is home to some very special and very tiny people.

They weigh less than a bag of sugar but despite their little frames, these babies are doing well.

The Special Care Baby Unit, or SCBU, cares for around 400 premature babies a year.

The dedicated team of nurses work flat out to ensure the little ones are given the best possible attention after their untimely births.

Often the babies have greeted the world months too early and weigh five times less than average newborns.

The unit currently has 17 little charges at various ages and weights. It is a busy time, as Alyson McSherry, nurse manager of the baby unit, testifies.

"The maternity ward is not like other wards where they expect busy times depending on the time of year," she said. "In winter you expect more broken bones due to slippery conditions or chest infections brought on by cold weather.

"But it is not seasonal in the maternity ward. There are no peaks and troughs here.

"For some reason we have got very busy in the last few weeks." Alyson, who completed her general training in Hull before moving to Swindon 25 years ago, said the smallest baby she has cared for weighed 450g, or just less than 1lb.

"That was 19 years ago at the old Princess Margaret Hospital," she said.

"We often get letters from our former patients. One young lady, who is now 21, sent us photographs from her prom and in her bridesmaid outfit.

"Another young lad wrote saying he had graduated from university and he thanked us for saving his life.

"I get a huge amount of job satisfaction. It is very emotional, but I love hearing how they are all getting on now, like little David Stevens."

David, who celebrated his first birthday in November, returned to the unit with a cheque for £450. His parents David and Donna raised the cash in lieu of birthday presents as a way of saying thank you to SCBU.

But the ward, like hundreds across the country, is suffering from staff shortages.

Alyson hopes the situation will be eased in the coming weeks. She said: "I have five potential new staff to interview this week. There is a national shortage and the ageing workforce means that when we come to retire there is no one ready to replace nurses.

"This has a knock-on effect with some nurses leaving because the stress levels are too high.

"But we have a wonderful team of dedicated staff here who often come in on days off to make up the numbers."