Baby unit faces axe
 | | X Factor winner Alexandra Burke was born at The Whittington |
THE Whittington Hospital's maternity unit - where Islington's X Factor winner Alexandra Burke was born - could be axed.
The hospital in Magdala Avenue, Archway, cared for the 21-year-old singing star when she was born four weeks' prematurely by caesarean section.
But health bosses at the North Central London NHS are now considering whether to close the maternity unit for good as part of a massive downgrading of the hospital - which could also lead to the accident and emergency department being shut down.
If the maternity unit goes, there would be nowhere left in Islington for pregnant mums to give birth to their babies.
They would instead have to travel to University College London Hospitals (UCLH) in Euston or the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead - or even to Barnet Hospital in Barnet or the North Middlesex Hospital in Edmonton.
The Whittington, which delivers more than 3,500 babies a year, has recently ploughed almost £2million into its maternity and neonatal care.
Last year, it opened a £1.18million hotel-style birth centre, which delivers 50 babies a month, and spent £758,000 expanding its neonatal intensive care unit after a two-year fundraising campaign.
Alexandra, who was up for a Brit Award for her single Bad Boys, had to stay in the Whittington for two weeks after being born with jaundice.
Her mother Melissa Bell, 45, who lives off Caledonian Road and had all her four children at the Whittington, said: "I was at the Whittington having my antenatal appointment when they sent me straight upstairs to give birth. I had to have an emergency caesarean because Alex was very big and I had gestational diabetes.
"If the Whittington hadn't looked after Alex so well, and she hadn't made it, we wouldn't have our Islington X Factor star.
"They do a fantastic job there and the nurses are so thorough. Countless children have been born successfully there. The Islington community owes a lot to that hospital. We need to keep it."
The North Central London NHS wants to cut £560million a year from its £2.27billion budget by 2016-17 - and is having a mass reorganisation of the six general hospitals that serve the five boroughs of Islington, Camden, Haringey, Barnet and Enfield.
There are currently seven different scenarios on the table, according to a strategy document. But all seven place The Whittington's maternity unit under threat - with five options saying there would possibly be no obstetrics and two saying there would definitely be no obstetrics.
The North Central London NHS wants to reduce its six maternity units down to four, with each catering for 6,000 births a year - the equivalent of 16 a day.
Stephen Conroy, who is leading the reconfiguration plans, said: "If we want a 24-hour maternity service with consultant back-up, we need to have at least 6,000 births a year.
"We are looking at the North Middlesex and Barnet in the north. In the south, there are three - Whittington, the Royal Free and UCLH - and we are looking at reducing three to two."
He remained tight-lipped when asked to confirm that The Whittington was the most likely to lose its maternity services.
Jeremy Corbyn, Labour MP for Islington North, pledged to raise the issue in parliament.
He said: "Women used to be able to have their babies in the borough at the City of London Maternity Hospital, in Hanley Road, Finsbury Park, at the Royal Northern, in Holloway Road, Holloway, at the Royal Free annexe, in Liverpool Road, Islington, and at Bart's Hospital, in West Smithfield. All those labour wards have gone.
"Every so-called improvement in north London seems to involve the closure of services in Islington and Haringey and it isn't right."
Zozi Goodman, joint chairwoman of the Defend The Whittington Hospital Coalition, said: "We need good maternity and paediatric services locally. I can't understand why The Whittington is being targeted.
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