Facilities were built at Morriston to house the centre

It is one of 30 units across the UK being considered for development into six specialist centres for treating the worst burns injuries.

One of the centres will cover Wales and the south west of England.

If the Morriston unit is chosen, it is thought extra investment and specialists would follow.

A review group of NHS commissioners and clinicians, as well as the Department of Health, will decide on the unit's future in December.

Morriston's unit, which has recently celebrated its 10th birthday, currently treats around 300 adults and 150 children each year.

Staff use the latest techiques in modern treatment, such as sophisticated procedures like repairing burns with substitute skin, as well as dealing with problems caused by skin cancers and birth deformities.

The hospital saved my life, and helped my family to cope as well Peter Clement, patient

Plastic surgery consultant Hamish Laing said that securing specialist status would be "a big boost".

"It would be help us recruit staff and help morale and would be very good for NHS Wales," he said.

"It would be one of the first times the health service in England was buying health care for Wales, recognising the value of the service we have here.

"This would mean we have a steady stream of investment that would allow us to expand and take on new staff and develop our service even more."

Bill Dixon, the director of Morriston burns unit and consultant, admitted that failing to get the status would be a serious problem.

"From our own point of view, we would continue to treat all the smaller burn injuries in south Wales but we would lose that expertise in dealing with the most severely injured patients," he said.

"Secondly I think it would possibly lead to problems of retention and recruitment of staff, and thirdly for patients it would mean that they would have to travel to other centres."

Life-saver

Three years ago, the burns unit played a prominent role treating victims of the major explosion at the Corus steelworks in which three people died and five people had terrible burns.

Peter Clement had been working as a mechanical technologist at the plant at the time.

It is a well-constructed, organised unit that is highly regarded Dr Jeffrey Carroll, Health Commission Wales

"I suffered 43% burns, broken shoulder, broken ribs and multiple organ failure," he said.

"The hospital saved my life, and helped my family to cope with it as well.

"Every day is a bonus and every day I am thankful."

Dr Jeffrey Carroll, from Health Commission Wales, is part of the review group assessing units around the country.

He said he was "extremely optimistic" about the future of Morriston's unit, saying it stood "an excellent chance of achieving burns centre status".

"It is a well-constructed, organised unit that is highly regarded," he said.

But he said that failing to attain centre status would mean a loss of "expertise and quality of contact with severely burned patients".

"It would have to export or, after initial treatment, turn away patients with the most severe burns," he said.

A team of 10 surgeons, nine consultant anaesthetists, and 250 other staff - including nurses, physiotherapists and occupational therapists - are currently employed at the unit.