A SCOTTISH health board has been forced to apologise to the parents of a baby girl who died after receiving inadequate care before and after she was born.
The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman’s Office upheld complaints of bad decision- making and delays by NHS Highland staff at the time of the baby’s unplanned birth at home.
The watchdog found that staff had failed to provide proper care before and after the infant’s death. In its report, issued yesterday, it said there had been enough time to get the baby’s mother to a hospital. Instead, the unnamed 40-year-old gave birth to her daughter, who was in the breech position, at home.
The report said the woman, who wanted her baby to be born at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, was not examined properly during the antenatal period. Staff failed to advise her to make her way to Inverness – an hour and 15 minutes drive from her home – after she phoned the hospital to say her waters had broken.
The woman alerted the hospital at 4am, but her baby was eventually delivered at home at 2pm when she was found to have no heart beat.
NHS Highland chief executive Elaine Mead,said: “I offer my personal and unreserved apology and sincere condolences to the family. I will continue to ensure, as far as possible, that this cannot happen again.”