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Sussex experiencing baby boom

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.

         

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UK baby considered ‘a walking miracle’ by mum

Lucy Young of East Sussex was resigned to the fact that her premature baby probably wasn’t going to make it. Her baby son, Stirling, was born 16 weeks early and weighed only 1.1 pounds when born. Additionally, the doctors found that Stirling had a hole in one of his heart valves, two empty spaces in his brain, and problems with his lungs.

But each day would pass, and little Stirling would still be alive.

“He made that night and the next and the next,” Lucy told People. “He was read his last rites over and over. Every day there was a new problem.”

“It was an emotional rollercoaster for two years. They said he might be blind and deaf, that he would never walk. Then they feared he might have autism.”

But Stirling continued to fight, and things started healing. The hole in his heart valve miraculously closed up. The empty spaces in Stirling’s brain tissue didn’t seem to be affecting his cognitive ability. The meningitis he had seemed to disappear.

Now Stirling is four years old and is considered “a walking miracle” by Lucy.

“I never thought we would see this day. It was such an emotional moment for me to dress him in his uniform and walk him to the gates but he couldn’t wait,” she said.

“He has been through so much in his short life. Doctors can not understand how he has hurdled so many obstacles.”

Stirling is now attending Goldstone primary school and excelling at math. He still gets regular checkups with doctors, but everything appears to be fine for the young lad.

Lucy has also started a charity called Stirling’s Donation. The charity raises money for the Trevor Mann baby unit at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, the place where baby Stirling staid the first four months of his life.