'They made me feel my baby's death was my fault'

The mother of a week-old baby girl who died said she was made to feel her daughter's death was her fault.

Sarah Robinson said that after the birth of her daughter Ida Lock at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary in 2019, she had been asked by staff if she had smoked.

Lifelong non-smoker Ms Robinson told an inquest at Lancashire Coroners Court that a midwife had asked her if she was "sure" she had never smoked, because her placenta looked "gritty and fatty".

But an independent investigation found there had been several problems during her delivery, and last year the hospital accepted there had been some failings.

Ms Robinson's partner Ryan Lock said the couple's "efforts to get any answers have been met with a complete block".

In 2015, an independent review into maternity care at the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust - which runs the Royal Lancaster Infirmary - found that 11 babies and one mother had died in preventable circumstance between 2004 and 2013.

The inquest heard Ms Lock had spent months questioning what she had done wrong following Ida's death.

The Morecambe couple went to the hospital on 9 November 2019 expecting their second child.

The hearing was told that the midwife on duty failed to spot or act on indications that Ida was struggling.

She was born in a poor condition and needed resuscitation.

She was transferred to the Royal Preston Hospital and died on 16 November.

"No one alerted Ryan or I to the fact that they couldn't identify Ida's heartbeat. Looking back, they didn't appreciate the time they were losing," Ms Robinson said.

Shortly after Ida was born, Ms Robinson was taken to theatre to have the placenta delivered, which was when the questions about smoking began.

After pushing the Lancaster Royal Infirmary for a full explanation about what had happened, the couple were offered a meeting on 27 December 2019.

They said they were ushered into a room off a ward, handed a number of medical records and left to go through them.

"The message from that meeting was that Ida was very poorly when she was born.

"I fell into a vicious circle, constantly questioning whether I was the reason that my daughter had died, and what had I missed," Ms Robinson said.

In the spring of 2020, the couple received the outcome of a Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) inquiry, which had found significant failings in Ida's delivery.

But an investigation the trust had completed – which the family were not involved in despite asking to be – found no failures, instead describing teamwork and record keeping as "outstanding".

The couple told the inquest they had to battle the trust to understand what had happened.

"This is the bit that breaks my heart the most... the time you took away from my other children, my family," Ms Robinson said.

Mr Lock said the couple had not been able to grieve properly because they had instead been having to "fight for justice".

The inquest continues on Tuesday and is set to last until March.

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