'Insensitive NHS staff blamed me when my baby died - and one cruel remark left me gobsmacked'

Sarah Robinson said she was "gobsmacked" erstwhile aesculapian unit speculated implicit whether she was a smoker erstwhile giving commencement to babe Ida, who tragically died astatine Royal Preston Hospital astatine conscionable 7 days old

A bereaved mum blamed for the decease of her ain babe says she hopes "no different parents person to endure successful the mode that we have".

Sarah Robinson and Ryan Lock were devastated aft losing their babe girl Ida 7 days aft she was born. Heavily pregnant Sarah had gone into infirmary aft her waters broken, and were transferred to different infirmary aft giving birth.

The parents nevertheless were "gobsmacked" erstwhile Sarah was accused of having smoked during her pregnancy. The parents, from Morecambe, Lancashire, had gone to the Royal Lancaster Infirmary with Sarah successful labour connected November 9, 2019.

An inquest into Ida's decease heard that Sarah, who already had a small boy, Ethan, was 40 weeks large erstwhile Ida was calved and her gestation had been "normal and with nary concerns". She planned to person a h2o commencement with Ida and was successful labour erstwhile "all of a abrupt the full ambiance changed", Lancashire Live reports.

A doc appeared and said "we request to get this babe out" conscionable minutes aft the midwives were "calm and joking astir the complexities of moving the bed". Up to this constituent neither Sarah oregon Ryan had been told thing astir Ida's heartrate contempt it having decreased to 100 beats per minute, they said.

After Ida was born, she was transferred to the neonatal intensive attraction portion astatine the Royal Preston Hospital portion Sarah was taken into theatre to region the placenta. "They said the placenta looked gritty and I heard 1 of them accidental 'it looks similar idiosyncratic has smoked'," Sarah told the coroner. "I was rather gobsmacked. I've ne'er smoked successful my life. I was conscionable reasoning 'what's happened?'."

After Ida's birth, Sarah and Ryan said they "weren't fixed immoderate accusation arsenic to what went wrong". Tragically, the youngster died 7 days later.

"All interaction with the spot was from us. We had to pursuit to get a de-brief," Sarah said. The parents aboriginal met with with Royal Lancaster managers implicit a period later, describing their attraction arsenic "incredibly insensitive".

She told the proceeding astatine Preston's County Hall however managers did not person immoderate disposable places to conscionable and asked "can we person the gathering successful 1 of the transportation suites?". "It shocked me," she said. "They told america to conscionable her successful the waiting country wherever you spell for a scan, determination were mothers determination waiting for scans, and we were there.

"Then she took america to Ward 17 which is wherever you spell erstwhile you've had a baby. There were babies crying. The connection was that Ida was precise poorly earlier she was born. I felt similar they were saying I had done thing wrong."

The inquest, owed to past 17 days, was ordered by Lancashire's Senior Coroner Dr James Adeley aft helium was contacted by aesculapian negligence solicitors representing Ida's parents aft they spent years warring for answers astir their daughter's birth.

University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, which is being legally represented during the inquest on with the midwives and the Care Quality Commission, aboriginal admitted determination had been "care transportation issues" during Ida's birth.

The spot was heavy criticised successful 2015 successful a study prepared by Dr Bill Kirkup, who stated determination was ‘major nonaccomplishment astatine each level’ successful maternity and neonatal services’ betwixt 2004 and 2013, pursuing the deaths of 11 babies and 1 mother.

Tabetha Darmon, Chief Nursing Officer astatine UHMBT, said successful 2023: “We connection our deepest sympathies and condolences to Ida’s household for the tragic nonaccomplishment of their girl and sister. We afloat admit that the inquest volition beryllium precise emotive and hard to beryllium through. The Trust volition afloat enactment and assistance the Coroner’s probe to guarantee the household person the answers they deserve.

“The Trust acknowledges that determination were attraction transportation issues successful Ida’s care. The information that she was successful trouble should person been recognised sooner and her commencement should person been expedited. The Trust has worked hard to code the learning points highlighted by the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) study and has besides made wider strategy and process changes for the payment and information of our patients since 2019.”

The inquest had primitively been owed to commencement successful February past twelvemonth but was dramatically halted astatine the eleventh hr aft the coroner was contacted by midwife Ian Kemp. Mr Kemp said helium had “blown the whistle” astatine the Care Quality Commission implicit claims that an inspection study into maternity services astatine the Royal Lancaster and Barrow’s Furness General Hospital successful December 2019 was “watered down”.

Dr Adeley said Mr Kemp’s allegations were “well wrong the scope of the inquest” and required further probe arsenic helium whitethorn not person the “complete factual matrix successful dealing with this case”. Lawyers for the Care Quality Commission told the coroner it did not recognise Mr Kemp’s allegations. The inquest continues.