“I was in hospital for 48 hours while the NHS saved my children’s lives.”
This is the stark admission mum-of-four and Central Croydon Labour candidate Sarah Jones made when she discussed her pledge to help save the NHS.
Mrs Jones gave birth to twin boys Arthur and Gabriel in Croydon University Hospital, formerly Mayday Hospital, in 2011 after going into labour five weeks prematurely.
Her sons, now four, were born with a premature lung disease and were hospitalised for two weeks before being considered healthy enough to go home.
Mrs Jones, a passionate supporter of the NHS, said: “I’ve used the NHS with my grandparents, who both died in the hospital, and my kids in and out of A&E many times, so I’ve used the NHS in its many forms.
“I had identical twin boys who were born premature and had premature lung disease which means that they couldn’t breathe and their lungs weren’t developed enough.”
Mrs Jones explained that although they were tiny like some premature babies their organs hadn’t developed properly.
The fact that she had a stomach bug which kick-started the labour meant that neither she nor her husband were allowed to see their tiny bundles of joy for 48 hours.
“One had an operation, and they were both in incubators and completely covered in wires and tubes and all kinds of things,” she explained.
“One of them had to have a drain on his lungs because fluid was getting in, so that was quite a traumatic thing to see him having to have done.
“My children would have died and the health service was there for us – they were incredible and I saw how amazing the all-round quality of care was, especially in the special baby care unit.
“The fact that my children have been healthy ever since is a credit to the work of the NHS.”
“The fact that my children have been healthy ever since is a credit to the work of the NHS.”
The hospital was under crippling pressure back in 2011, but Mrs Jones was praiseworthy of the care her children received during such difficult times.
She said: “The maternity service as a whole wasn’t doing so well.
“The quality of care and feedback from mothers that used the services said they had a propensity to put people in a clinical environment rather than keeping them in the baby unit – I was lucky that my service was very good.”
Having recently completed a 24-hour meet and greet with Croydon residents, Mrs Jones has identified the NHS as a key area of need in Croydon.
More than 50,000 people in the borough were forced to wait longer than a week to see their GP last year, while the ambulance service has seen a 10% rise in the number of critically-ill people using the service.
“This business where you ring up and can only get an emergency appointment, but if the phone is engaged and you can’t get through with an emergency appointment then you have to wait is a big bugbear within the whole community,” Mrs Jones said.
