What a special little baby!

Aug 2 2008 by Joanne Douglas, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

MEET the tot who has made history.

Baby Tommy Sutcliffe was the last baby to leave the Huddersfield special care baby unit as it closed yesterday – and he was transferred to the new neonatal unit at Calderdale Royal Hospital, Halifax, profiled in yesterday’s Examiner.

It marks the end of a long-running saga which saw thousands of Huddersfield people trying to stop the move of most maternity services and the special care baby unit to Calderdale.

Tommy was born 10 weeks early and was a special early delivery for his Linthwaite parents Jeremy Sutcliffe and Becky Harte.

The doors to the consultant-led unit at Huddersfield closed for good yesterday as Tommy made the trip by ambulance from HRI to Calderdale.

Mr Sutcliffe said: “Tommy literally was the last baby to leave the unit. At 11.30 on Friday morning he was transferred to Calderdale and we were the last people there.

“The staff at Huddersfield really were superb, really nice to us and Tommy. There were just three babies left on the unit before it closed. One was allowed home and Tommy and the other baby were both transferred to Calderdale.”