A BABY boy died after his mum was turned away from a maternity ward while she was in labour because there weren’t enough beds, an inquest heard.
The woman was told to drive 38 miles to another unit because the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate, Kent, was in “divert mode”.
She drove home and gave birth with the help of midwives but was offered a “poor quality of care”, the family’s lawyer told an inquest.
The baby, named Archie Batten, died shortly after birth on September 1 last year, the Mirror reports.
Archie’s mum’s lawyer, Nick Fairweather told the hearing in Maidstone, Kent: “At 2.35pm, when she was turned away from hospital she was told she could access services at any time if needed.
She should never have been sent away in the first place.
Nick Fairweather, mum's lawyer
“On her return at 4.50pm, he said she was told the hospital was in shutdown.
He added: “She should never have been sent away in the first place.”
Mr Fairweather also singled out the midwives for criticism saying that their failure was “so fundamental” that they provided no “meaningful service” whatsoever.
Assistant coroner Sonia Hayes told the hearing that an investigation into the incident, called a Root Cause Analysis, found Archie’s mum should not have been sent home from hospital at her first visit.
A full hearing into Archie’s death will be scheduled in the coming months.
The tot’s inquest comes as it was revealed another baby died of brain damage after failings by medics which amounted to neglect.
An inquest was told of a one-hour delay in Harry Richford’s caesarean section delivery.
He died a week after the birth at Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital in Margate, Kent, in 2017.
Coroner Christopher Sutton-Mattocks declared: “Harry’s death was wholly avoidable. Mr and Mrs Richford were failed by the hospital.”
“More importantly, Harry was failed.”
A BBC investigation has revealed at least seven baby deaths since 2016 at the East Kent NHS Trust’s hospitals may have been preventable.
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