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Efforts to improve standards of care for premature and sick babies have been thrown into doubt amid concern over funding.

Ministers have refused to allocate the cash needed to plug a shortfall of 2,700 nurses and 300 other specialist staff, such as physiotherapists and dieticians, on England's neonatal wards.

A Neonatal Taskforce was established last year by the Department of Health in response to the National Audit Office's criticism of standards of care for sick babies.

Its new guidance recommends gravely ill babies get one-on-one nursing to give them the best chance of survival in the first 28 days of life.

But campaigners and doctors fear that without extra resources to help neonatal units take on more staff the changes will not be implemented.

Andy Cole, chief executive of the special care baby charity Bliss, told the Daily Mail: "Premature and sick babies are the most vulnerable members of our society. They need the highest quality of hospital care to ensure they have the best possible start in life.

"The taskforce document highlights the serious shortages of nurses needed to care for babies and their families. There is an identified shortfall of over 2,700 nurses and 300 supporting therapists."

Health Minister Anne Keen said: "As a nurse I've seen the excellent care the NHS provides for small and premature babies, and the doctors and nurses working in neonatal care should be proud that more babies than ever before are surviving.

"Having a sick baby is very distressing for parents at what should be one of their happiest moments. That's why we're providing the NHS with practical guidance on how to make neonatal services even better and take a family-centred approach to care."

Nearly 70,000 babies a year are treated in neonatal units, with around a third admitted to intensive care. Last year, 2,127 babies born in England died before they reached a month old.