Staff from a Watford supermarket visited the neonatal unit at Watford General Hospital in the lead up to Christmas to present a cheque of more than £4,500.

Six months ago, customers of Sainsbury’s voted for the neonatal unit, which treats babies who are unwell or premature, to be their chosen charity for the year.

Since then, Sainsbury’s staff have been holding regular fundraising activities such as cake sales and bag packing.

They held a Muppets themed raffle where shoppers had the chance to win a copy of the new Muppets DVD and a Kermit the Frog backpack.

One member of staff spent a week dressed up as Kermit to sell raffle tickets and managed to raise £1,500 in just three days.

In the last twelve months, the neonatal unit has treated 414 babies. Up to 30 babies can be treated at any one time, including three babies who require dedicated intensive care and a further five who require high dependency.

Sylvia Gomes, matron for the neonatal unit, said: "We are absolutely delighted that the customers of Sainsbury’s have chosen us as their charity this year.

We’d like to say a huge thank you to all the staff for their amazing fundraising efforts.

"This money will be used to purchase additional saturation monitors, which provides important information on a baby’s heart rate and oxygen levels."

Caroline Robinson, the counter’s manager for Sainsbury’s in Watford, said: "It was an absolute pleasure to hand over the cheque to the neonatal unit.

Customers and staff from our store will be delighted at the final amount raised for their chosen local service. We had lots of fun whilst raising the money and we know how much the parents and staff in the neonatal unit will appreciate the new equipment."