TWO more families whose babies were born recently at Horton Hospital, Banbury, have said cutbacks to children's services could cost lives.

They have come forward to support the campaign to prevent the closure of paediatric services including the maternity and special care baby units at the Horton.

Claire Readman and her partner Gary Neesome of Brackley, and Richard and Nicky Bennett of Banbury, are the latest 'new' parents to join the 'Keep the Horton General' campaign.

This week, Miss Readman described how her baby Zach was delivered by an emergency Caesarian operation on March 3 this year.

She said: "There was no time for me to be tranferred to Oxford. Zach was born with severe respiratory problems and was immediately taken to the Horton's special care baby unit. He was there for 17 days before being moved to the children's ward for monitoring.

"Zach would not be here now if that specialist treatment had not been availalbe in Banbury. It was a life threatening situation and it took several hours to stabilise him. The treatment he received could not have been given in an ambulance."

She added: "The maternity and special care units in Banbury must be kept open. Both were busy when I was there, so no one can say they are not fully used."

Mr Bennett said his wife Nicky's pregnancy was normal and they were not expecting delivery problems.

He said: "But in the last 20 minutes or so things changed and Nicky had to have a Caesarian when Horton staff decided that our baby's heartbeat was distressed. Joseph was fine and did not need special care, but I fear for future babies if services at the Horton are closed.

"I support the Horton campaign, and I hope we can drum up support. You cannot put a price on babies' lives."

The new backing for the Horton follows a story in the Banbury Cake two weeks ago when Charlton couple Bradley and Samantha Clarke pledged support for the campaign after their premature baby Charlie was given lifesaving attention by maternity and special care unit staff.

Last week Andrew and Joanne Webb, of Banbury, described how on-the-spot treatment at the Horton's maternity and special care baby units saved the life of their newborn son, Mark.

Cllr George Parish, who is leading the campaign to prevent the Horton from being downgraded from a fully-serviced general hospital, appealed for more parents to tell their stories.

He said: "All the time more experiences like these are becoming known. They all come to the same conclusion that lives will be lost if the Horton loses its paediatric services. Parent keep telling us that they would not have had time to travel to Oxford, and that if vital services were not available in Banbury the consequences would be tragic.

"I have said before that Banbury is a growing town and these incidents will be happen more often not less."