Colchester Hospital apology over stillbirth 'mistakes'

Baby Rosie's parents had been concerned their unborn child was not moving

A hospital boss has apologised "unreservedly" to the parents of a baby girl who was stillborn.

Georgie Hardy and Dave Squire had visited Colchester Hospital three times concerned their baby was not moving.

Baby Rosie was stillborn at 42 weeks on 21 February.

Chief executive Nick Hulme said mistakes were made and concerns should have been escalated to a consultant, but could not state "categorically" this would have saved the baby.

Rosie was overdue by one week when her parents, from Clacton, Essex, visited the hospital on 16 February, concerned about reduced fetal movements.

Following a scan, they were told their baby had died.

Rosie was born on 21 February - the umbilical cord was tightly around her neck and body, a report into the incident said.

Mr Hulme said Georgie Hardy and Dave Squire did "all they could" to ensure a healthy baby

It stated there were "missed opportunities to undertake an ultrasound scan" and no evidence of "consideration of consultant involvement in decision-making at any stage".

It said because of concerns about the baby's movement, "induction of labour should have been considered and offered".

Apologising to the couple, Mr Hulme said: "Clearly we made some errors in terms of the way the staff responded, in terms of not calling for the consultant - who was available - but also not using the protocol... for whatever reason, we didn't follow the protocol.

"So those two issues... may have contributed to the very sad loss of the baby.

"It could have been escalated - and it wasn't," he said.

Rosie's parents said they did not want other parents to go through the same experience

"As the report says, we cannot categorically say whether the baby would have survived had we actually used the protocol and the consultant was called... but clearly we didn't give the baby the best possible chance of survival because of the mistakes that we made," Mr Hulme said.

"We apologise unreservedly for what has happened for the mistakes we have made."

The apology was "good enough in a way", Rosie's parents said.

"I take away the joy that Rosie has brought to us as a family and hopefully we can leave some form of legacy in her name so that other families don't have to go through the same experience that we have," Mr Squire said.

The couple said they were now taking legal advice.

"The reason for looking into this further isn't to get any sort of costs from the hospital - it's to get an apology, which we're very grateful that we've got - but it's also for them to admit the liability and say that what we have done could have caused your daughter to pass away," said Miss Hardy.