Leicester hospitals admit failings over baby death

The parents of a girl who died just two days old have said they are "still coming to terms" with the loss after the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust admitted failings which led to her death.

Delilah Hubbard had no heartbeat and needed to be resuscitated shortly aftermbeing born at Leicester General Hospital in March this year.

She was transferred to Leicester Royal Infirmary and put on a ventilator but died two days later.

Ms Bassford visited Leicester General Hospital for a routine check-up on March 6 when she was 32 weeks pregnant.

During the visit, her waters broke and she was admitted to a ward and kept in to be monitored overnight.

The following morning, she noticed that she had a small bleed and that her baby was not moving. She told hospital midwives, but had to wait before they examined her.

A monitor was then attached to Ms Bassford to track Delilah's heart rate, but it was positioned incorrectly, meaning staff could not get accurate readings for an hour and 40 minutes.

It was only when the monitor was attached correctly that nursing staff realised Delilah's heart rate was unusually high with periods when it dropped very low - a sign that she was in distress.

It was then a number of hours before Delilah was delivered. After being transferred to Leicester Royal Infirmary, she was placed on a ventilator to help her breathe, but nothing could be done to save her.

Now Ms Bassford and her partner, Mark Hubbard, 27, have received an admission of liability from the trust for failings in the care they received.<

Ms Bassford, whose pregnancy was classed as high-risk owing to her having ulcerative colitis, has said she hopes no other family will have to go what she has been through.

The Trust has now written to her mother, Clara Bassford, from Coalville in Leicestershire, admitting liability for the death.

They said Ms Bassford should have been given a caesarean section sooner than she was.

They added that if doctors had acted then baby Delilah would have survived.

An inquest into Delilah's death will be held next year.