Health Secretary pledges urgent action after report into newborn baby deaths

Recommendations for change in maternity care following the avoidable deaths of three newborn babies will be “acted upon with the greatest of urgency”, Health Secretary Neil Gray has pledged.

He made the commitment as he offered his “sincerest apologies” to the families invovled in the three “tragic” deaths.

Babies Leo Lamont, Ellie McCormick and Mira-Belle Bosch all died within hours of their births, with a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) held into their deaths.

In her report, Sheriff Principal Aisha Anwar KC said “reasonable precautions” could have been taken that might “realistically” have saved each baby’s life.

In each case the baby’s mother had been in contact with a hospital in the hours before giving birth but had been advised to stay at home rather than go in for assessment.

The inquiry report made 11 recommendations for change, including the drawing up of a “trigger list” for identifying pre-term labour symptoms, and the introduction of a dedicated telephone line to give ambulance service staff direct access to maternity units.

Leo’s mother Nadine Rooney, who had a history of pre-term delivery, called Princess Royal Maternity Hospital in Glasgow when she was 27 weeks pregnant in February 2019, complaining of “agony pains” in her back.

After a midwife advised her to take painkillers, she gave birth to her son on her bathroom floor, with the infant dying hours later at University Hospital Monklands.

A midwife advised her to take painkillers and to call back if the pain did not improve, and she gave birth to Leo on her bathroom floor just before 5am.

Ellie McCormick was five hours old when she died at Wishaw General Hospital in March 2019 – with Mira-Belle Bosch dying there in July 2021, just over 12 hours after being born.

Central Scotland MSP Meghan Gallacher raised the issue with the Health Secretary in Holyrood (Andrew Milligan/PA). PA Media

Answering questions on their deaths at Holyrood, the Health Secretary said the two health boards involved – NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Lanarkshire – had “already put in place a range of actions to deliver against the recommendations”.

Mr Gray added he had written to the chief executive of both boards “seeking further assurances that actions are under way and that appropriate changes are happening at pace”

He stressed the Scottish Government is “considering the findings carefully with the maternity community to ensure the recommendations are acted upon with the greatest of urgency”.

The minister said: “As a father of four my heart breaks to think of the unspeakable pain those families will be suffering, especially as the FAI has flagged opportunities for their babies’ lives to have potentially been saved.”

But he stressed there “is already progress in place” for some of the changes recommended and “more progress to come and being worked upon for others”.

The Health Secretary also sought to “reassure expectant mothers maternity services in Scotland are very safe for both mothers and babies”.

Central Scotland MSP Meghan Gallacher had raised the issue with him in Holyrood, saying: “It is heartbreaking for the families of Lea, Ellie and Mira-Belle to learn that their deaths could have been prevented.”

The Conservative MSP expressed her “deepest sympathies” to the three families “for their unimaginable loss”, adding: “SNP ministers must ensure that the recommendations of the Fatal Accident Inquiry are implemented in full, to ensure the individual and systemic failings identified are addressed.”