Sussex experiencing baby boom

October 28, 2009 by Shawn Douglas
Filed under: News

Sussex has seen a small but noticeable increase in the amount of children being born at the county hospitals despite controversial plans to reduce services.

A miniature baby boom of sorts is being experienced in Sussex, and more babies are expected to be on the way despite effects from the longest recession on record in the U.K.

When compared to last year, the latest counts show a 4.6 percent increase in new arrivals at county hospitals this year. The most noticeable rise was seen at Worthing Hospital with a nearly 11 percent increase in babies being delivered this year.

The increase at Worthing Hospital can be partially credited to recruitment efforts by the hospital to encourage more expectant mothers to utilize the hospital’s services. The recruitment effort was spurred by the controversial Fit for the Future plan unveiled by NHS in 2006.

The Fit for the Future plan was set up originally as a series of steps to better local services by streamlining and balancing the offering of services in the county. However, concerns were raised in 2007 that the West Sussex Primary Care Trust (PCT) would downgrade services at two of three hospitals in the county with the desire “to provide vital services in more appropriate settings.”

Under the Fit for the Future consultation, Worthing Hospital stood a hefty chance at losing its maternity unit as well as its ambulance and emergency services and its complex surgery departments.

But Worthing wasn’t alone in the baby boom. The Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton and the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath saw a combined 4 percent increase in new births. Eastbourne District General Hospital—which also faced reductions in its maternity unit—and the Conquest Hospital in St. Leonard’s saw slight increases in new babies as well.