Telford hospital criticised after baby's death

John Ellery, coroner for Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin, said staff at the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford had failed to reclassify the mother of Kye Hall as a high risk case on two occasions.

Kye, otherwise known as Kye Anson, was born at the PRH but died at four days old as a result of hypoxic ischaemic brain injury and birth asphyxia.

During the inquest, held at the end of last month Mr Ellery heard Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust accepted some failings in connection with Kye's death.

He later died at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton.

In his record of inquest Mr Ellery said that having been admitted to the PRH on August 19 last year. Kye was born by emergency caesarian section but he was born in poor condition and transferred to New Cross Hospital where he died on August 23.

Mr Ellery said: "His death was caused or contributed to by failings at the Princess Royal Hospital, Telford, namely a failure to reclassify Kye's mother as a high risk case on two occasions and a failure to auscultate his foetal heart rate at two critical times prior to delivery."

Mr Ellery has also written to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists to share with them the lessons learned by the trust.

During the inquest, it was 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, of Telford, could have been referred to the consultancy-led unit when her blood pressure dropped.

Following the inquest, Sarah Bloomfield, director of nursing and quality at from SaTH, said Kye's death was a tragedy for his family and offered sincere condolences.

She said the trust thoroughly investigated the events and fully accept that there was a failure to fully follow Nice guidelines on antepartum haemorrhage, and said "for this we are extremely sorry".

She added: "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."