Kate Stanton-Davies death: Independent inquiry launched

Kate Stanton-Davies, pictured with her mother Rhiannon, was born at Ludlow Community Hospital

An independent inquiry is being launched after a baby girl died hours after being born at a Shropshire maternity unit.

Kate Stanton-Davies was born with anaemia at Ludlow Community Hospital in March 2009. She was transferred to Birmingham's Heartlands Hospital but later died.

An inquest heard Kate's birth should have taken place at a specialised unit.

Her parents met Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt earlier.

They had accused Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust bosses of putting off their requests to fully investigate the circumstances of their daughter's death.

'Pain and distress'

In a letter to Mr Hunt, Kate's mother, Rhiannon Davies, said: "Thank you also for offering to ensure that the Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital Trust, which was responsible for our daughter Kate's avoidable death in 2009, is finally taking the long-overdue steps to learn from their failings in order to prevent further loss of life.

"There is still much work for them to do."

In January, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman upheld their complaint against the trust, finding it guilty of maladministration, service failure and the avoidable death of Kate.

The ombudsman said Kate's death was "on the balance of probabilities, avoidable".

In a statement, Sarah Bloomfield, Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust's director of nursing and quality, said some areas of Kate's care in 2009 and their handling of the couple's complaint were inadequate.

She apologised for "the added pain and distress this has caused" and said the independent inquiry would examine both issues.

She said: "Nothing can make up for the loss of Mr Stanton and Ms Davies' child but we sincerely hope the changes we have made as a direct result of this tragic case, along with our continuing work to learn and improve, will provide some comfort and assurance that we are taking this matter very seriously."