Midwife's baby died in hospital after staff did not 'act urgently enough'

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A midwife tragically lost her baby 17 hours after he was born at the hospital where she works as maternity staff 'did not act urgently enough or escalate care appropriately', a coroner has ruled.

Gemma Bentley and her husband Philip, who live with their three children, were left heartbroken when their son Luca died shortly after birth at Burnley General Teaching Hospital in June 2020.A health care safety panel concluded that a lack of urgency, miscommunication and incorrect classification of foetal monitoring all contributed towards the child's death, the Manchester Evening News reports.

The inquest also heard that Mrs Bentley's care throughout her pregnancy had been of the expected standard until June 13 2020 when she was admitted to hospital following scan results which implied her baby's growth had slowed down.The coroner heard that several delays meant that when Luca's heart rate along with other vital signs showed he was in distress, he was not delivered as soon as he should have been.

There was a shocking gap of around six hours between foetal heartbeat monitoring being carried out with a cardiotocograph at around 4:29am on June 13 when the results were normal ad 10:28am that morning when the results were now being raised as an issue.An inquest at Blackburn Town Hall heard that during this time Mrs Bentley should have been rushed to theatre for an emergency caesarean section as it was uncertain how long little Luca's condition had been deteriorating.