Baby could have lived with earlier hospital care, inquiry told

An FAI is taking place into the deaths of three babies in Lanarkshire hospitals

A baby who died hours after being born could have survived had her mother been told to attend hospital earlier, a Fatal Accident Inquiry has heard.

Ellie McCormick died at Wishaw General Hospital on 5 March 2019.

Glasgow Sheriff Court heard that had her mother Nicola been induced "at any time prior to labour commencing" Ellie would likely have lived.

The FAI is looking into the deaths of three babies at two North Lanarkshire hospitals between 2019 and 2021.

In the first day of evidence about Ellie's death, a joint minute read at court stated: "Had Ms McCormick been advised to attend hospital during her call at 16.29 on 4 March 2019 or at any time earlier it is likely Ellie would have survived."

A decision was made to perform an emergency caesarean section after Ellie's heartbeat in the womb was noted to be low.

She died from a lack of oxygen five hours later.

It was noted that she was unresponsive with multi-organ failure, so a decision had been taken for active care to be withdrawn.

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A review by NHS Lanarkshire at the time identified "major care issues" around Ellie and her mother.

It stated that a different plan for Ellie's birth would have "on the balance of probability" brought a more "favourable outcome".

The FAI heard that Nicola McCormick was a high-risk pregnancy due to her obesity, so was placed under joint consultant and midwife care.

She had reported bleeding and two episodes of reduced foetal movement during her pregnancy.

But the inquiry was told that the IT system used for maternity care had not automatically highlighted these incidents to midwives or doctors.

The Badgernet system had been rolled out in Lanarkshire in 2016 to replace paper notes.

Time constraints

Clinical negligence lawyer Darren Deery put it to a midwife involved in Ms McCormick's care that there had been no reliable IT mechanism to alert her to developing risk factors.

The midwife agreed and said that Badgernet had not highlighted the high-risk pregnancy or history of bleeding.

The inquiry also heard that Ms McCormick's midwife was changed late in the pregnancy.

Mr Deery put it to the second midwife that she was given no proper handover and also had no opportunity to be aware of these incidents.

The second midwife said the Badgernet system would have required her to read the notes of every single one of Ms McCormick's previous appointments, but time constraints meant this was not possible for every patient.

The court heard how Badgernet - used to highlight risks and conduct risk assessments - has since been changed.

The FAI is also looking into the deaths of Mirabelle Bosch and Leo Lamont.

Leo Lamont was two hours old when he died at Monklands Hospital on 15 February 2019.

Mirabelle Bosch died on 2 July 2021 at Wishaw General Hospital, 12 hours after her birth.

The inquiry before Sheriff Principal Aisha Anwar continues.