Sophie Ellis-Bextor opens hospital maternity unit

Singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor opened The Kensington Wing—the newly expanded and revamped private maternity unit at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital—during the hospital’s annual Open Day on Saturday 9 May.

The singer-songwriter gave birth to her second son, Kit, at the hospital in February by emergency Caesarean 9 weeks early after doctors discovered she was suffering from the potentially life-threatening pregnancy condition pre-eclampsia.

Baby Kit was born weighing just 2lb 6oz and spent a week being cared for in the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit before he was able to go home with Sophie and her husband, The Feeling guitarist Richard Jones.

Sophie’s first son, Sonny (now 4), was also born by Caesarean section at Chelsea and Westminster after Sophie was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia.

Sophie says: “I was delighted to accept an invitation to come back to the hospital to officially open The Kensington Wing as a way of saying thank you to the doctors, midwives and all the other staff who have cared for me and my family.

“The Kensington Wing provides the best of both worlds, private maternity care in a modern NHS hospital, and it gave me peace of mind that Kit was looked after in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit after he was born so prematurely.

“I am extremely grateful to all the staff at Chelsea and Westminster for everything that they have done for us.”

All profits from The Kensington Wing are reinvested in the hospital so that the NHS benefits directly from the private maternity unit.