Hospital slammed over ‘scandalous’ death of baby
DATE: December 2009
A coroner has slammed a hospital over the death of a baby after it was warned over its lack of midwives.
An inquest into the death of baby Ebony McCall revealed that Milton Keynes general hospital had been censured by the independent health watchdog in 2008 over its shortcomings in standards of care, but services on its maternity ward were still overstretched.
The coroner, Thomas Osborne, carried out an inquest in 2007 into the death of another baby, Romy Feast, who was born by caesarean section but died after monitoring readings were misinterpreted.
The investigation by the Healthcare Commission was carried out after the death of that child. It found that a shortage of beds and midwives meant mothers were being discharged prematurely. The unit also had a readmission rate nearly three times the national average.
Today's inquest heard that Ebony McCall was born by caesarean section in May this year after her mother Amanda, aged 17 at the time, was admitted to hospital with stomach pains.
She was initially refused a caesarean section but went into labour that night after the baby's heartbeat became erratic, necessitating the emergency procedure she had wanted in the first place. McCall, a student, told the inquest she had agreed to a planned induction after meeting a consultant, Anthony Stock.
Ebony died shortly after her birth early on 9 May. Questioning the hospital's failure to act on the Healthcare Commission's findings, Osborne branded the midwife shortages "nothing short of scandalous". Hospital staff admitted failures in the care of Ebony.
Stock told the inquest: "The care in this case should have been consultant-led and right at the outset I am happy to acknowledge that the care did not come up to a standard that I would have expected." He said McCall was considered "low risk" in cardiac terms but when she came into hospital with stomach pain, would have been "high risk".
Osborne also said recommendations about bed numbers had not been met. Stock said: "I agree entirely that in an ideal world we would have greater accommodation. Milton Keynes is not unique. I think everyone acknowledges within the department we need higher staffing levels and more space."
After the inquest, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) which replaced the Healthcare Commission last year, condemned the hospital for failing to strengthen its maternity care.
Carole Watts leads the clinical negligence team at Milton Keynes and Luton-based lawyers Pictons.
"The death of Ebony is an absolute tragedy,” she says. “It’s clear that the unit was still entirely unprepared to cope with the pressure of work in the maternity ward and Ebony died as a result.
“There doesn’t seem to have been any improvements since last year’s damning assessment and it’s unacceptable that the lives of mothers and babies are still being put at risk by the continuing staff shortages at the hospital.”
If you have been affected by a similar incident, please contact the Pictons Clinical Negligence Team on 0845 263 7509 or email carole.watts@pictons.co.uk.