Death of newborn Telford baby could have been prevented, inquest told

Kye Hall, otherwise known as Anson, died shortly after his birth at Princess Royal Hospital in Telford last August.

Shropshire and Telford senior coroner John Ellery heard Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Hospital Trust accepted failings in connection with Kye's death, who died at four days old at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton.

The inquest heard the trust accepted some heart rate recordings of the unborn baby had not been taken or recorded, and it was accepted that his mother, Katie Anson, could have been referred to the consultancy-led unit when her blood pressure dropped.

Coroner John Ellery said he would reflect on the evidence given at Shirehall in Shrewsbury yesterday before giving a formal conclusion.

He said: "The underlying point is sadly and tragically, this comes from the trust itself, that Kye probably would have survived had different action been taken.

"Katie should at least have had the option of going to the consultant-led unit earlier in the day when the blood pressure dropped.

"There is this disparity between family and midwives but the fact is that Kye would have survived had foetal heart records been taken as described.

"What I am concerned with is whether Kye's death could have reasonably been prevented. The evidence points in one direction – that it could have been prevented."

In a joint statement following the inquest, his parents Katie Anson and Matthew Hall, of St George's in Telford, said: "The past 10 months since Kye's death have been horrendous.

"We have fought for our concerns to be recognised and for lessons to be learned so that this does not happen again.

"We have met with senior managers at the hospital, the local supervisor of midwives and the coroner to put forward our recollection of events and to stress our concerns many times over the last 10 months."

Speaking at the inquest, Anthea Gregory-Page, the acting head of midwifery and supervisor of midwives for SATH, said: "I would like to apologise for occasions when the foetal heart rate was not osculated."

Mrs Gregory-Page said had the heart rate of the baby been taken, his distress may have been spotted which could have led to other action being taken to prevent Kye's death.

Sarah Bloomfield, director of nursing and quality at SATH, said: "Kye's death is a tragedy for his family and we would once again like to offer our sincere condolences to them for their loss and for the extremely difficult time that his parents Katie and Matthew and their wider family have had over the last 10 months.

"The trust thoroughly investigated the events surrounding Kye's death in conjunction with the Local Supervisor of Midwives and now the Coroner supported by his experts.

"We are awaiting the Coroner's verdict, but we fully accept that there was a failure to fully follow Nice guidelines on antepartum haemorrhage, and for this we are extremely sorry.

"There are local and national guidelines in place designed to prevent this from happening and we have made sure that our own systems and processes have been strengthened so all our teams have clear and explicit guidance around monitoring responsibilities during labour."