Mother criticises Shropshire hospital trust over baby death

Neil and Katie Russell heard their baby could have survived if she was delivered an hour earlier

The mother of a baby who died within hours of her birth has accused the hospital of lying about her labour.

A coroner ruled Poppy Russell's death at Telford's Princess Royal Hospital in April 2021 was preventable and said effective monitoring of her foetal heart rate was not taken.

Katie Russell said the hospital had "made it look like" she had declined some examinations and monitoring.

The trust has been approached about her comments.

On Wednesday, Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) admitted there had been failings in Poppy's care and said it was "truly sorry".

She was delivered by emergency caesarean section at 03:45 BST on 11 April 2021 and died at 15:35.

Shropshire coroner John Ellery said an independent expert had told the inquest that she would have survived if she had been delivered an hour earlier.

In his determination, Mr Ellery said there would have been signals between 02:00 and 03:15 that Poppy was suffering and displaying symptoms of intermittent compression of her umbilical cord.

He acknowledged there was "factual dispute" between the parents and hospital trust over whether Mrs Russell declined or refused continuous monitoring, and whether she followed medical advice.

Mr Ellery concluded that as monitoring was top of Mrs Russell's birth plan priorities it was "inconceivable that she would have changed her mind".

Katie Russell was a first time mum when she lost her daughter Poppy a few hours after her birth

Speaking to BBC Radio Shropshire, Mrs Russell said: "A lot of things were put in to make it look like I had declined various aspects of examinations, monitoring - I mean it is completely absurd.

"I was a first time mother, I was extremely anxious. I would never had said no to any of that and that's what came out in the inquest."

She said hearing the trust's account had been "harrowing" and claimed hospital notes had been "blatantly written retrospectively after the outcome".

"The ironic thing was we thought it'd be the safest place to give birth as it had the spotlight shined on it we thought they'd make those changes as everyone's got them under scrutiny but they didn't," she added.

'Clear improvements'

SaTH was subject to an inquiry by senior midwife Donna Ockenden, which examined maternity practices over 20 years.

In 2022 it concluded catastrophic failures at the trust may have led to the deaths of more than 200 babies, nine mothers and left other infants with life-changing injuries.

Since Ms Ockenden's reports, the trust has detailed improvements in maternity care.

Speaking after the inquest, Hayley Flavell, Director of Nursing at SaTH said the trust had made "clear improvements to our maternity services since 2021, with specific changes relating to foetal monitoring and record-keeping".

"There is further to go, but we remain committed to constant improvement, openness and transparency, and are working with women and families to provide the best and safest care possible," she added.