'We've had to fight': Parents ‘appalled’ by hospital trust inaction after baby died following neglect
Senior midwife was suspended by the regulator following ruling earlier this week
The parents of a newborn baby who died after neglect at a hospital say they have “had to carry the heavy burden of fighting for the bare minimum of truth and consequences”, after a senior midwife was suspended by the regulator.
Fiona Winser-Ramm and Daniel Ramm said they “remain deeply appalled” by the conduct of a hospital trust after the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) suspended senior midwife Yvette Lake following misconduct connected to the death of their daughter Aliona Winser-Ramm, at Leeds General Infirmary, in January 2020.
Ms Winser-Ramm and Mr Ramm said the move by the NMC is “the first action resembling any individual accountability in the nearly seven years since our daughter’s death”.
And the couple said it only happened after they personally referred Ms Lake to the council, criticising Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT) for not referring staff connected with the case to the regulator.
In 2023, a coroner concluded that Aliona died after neglect by midwives and identified gross failures.
Earlier this week, the NMC said labour ward co-ordinator Ms Lake, who has now retired, will be suspended for 12 months.
Ms Winser-Ramm and Mr Ramm said: “Whilst today brings a small sense of accountability and consequence, we believe that the NMC decision did not yet go far enough for a healthy child who died due to neglect.
“No regulatory ruling can ever replace the life of our beautiful daughter, Aliona, who was taken from us by the catastrophic neglect and gross failures of a number of staff at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust.”
They said: “This suspension order is the first action resembling any individual accountability in the nearly seven years since our daughter’s death.
“During that time, we have had to carry the heavy burden of fighting for the bare minimum of truth and consequences, while the institutions around us remained silent.”
The NMC’s Fitness to Practise Committee decision said Ms Lake’s failures to recognise and appropriately categorise monitoring information “as pathological” and to secure timely obstetric review were “serious clinical failings”.
And it said: “The repeated nature of the failures, over a period of more than two hours, demonstrated the significance of the concerns about Miss Lake’s practice.
“The panel was satisfied that the conduct had exposed Patient A (Ms Winser-Ramm) and her baby to an unwarranted risk of harm.
“Miss Lake’s misconduct had breached the fundamental tenets of the nursing profession and therefore brought its reputation into disrepute.”
Beverley Geary, chief nurse at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Our thoughts are with Aliona’s family, and we continue to extend our deepest apologies to her parents for the failings in their care.
“We offer our sincere condolences for the devastating loss they have experienced and recognise the lasting impact this has had on them and their loved ones.”