A MUM who was overjoyed when she discovered she was pregnant after nine years of failed attempts blames a series of hospital blunders led to her 'miracle' baby's death.

Nadia and Steven Jones were horrified when Worcestershire Royal Hospital doctors told them little Harry was dead - then discovered he was alive and fighting for his life in a neo-natal unit.

"He was alive for seven hours but when we found out I had just 10 minutes left to cradle him then he died in my husband's arms," said former charity worker Nadia, aged 33. "We were robbed of time with him."

The couple's nightmare began on Saturday, September 11, when Nadia's waters broke at their home in Broom Crescent, Kidderminster.

By the next day, she still hadn't gone into labour so went to the Royal, where she claims midwives failed to do routine checks -including tests for infections that can occur if there is a long delay between waters breaking and giving birth.

She was given antibiotics, but not told how serious an infection could be, or given the 'standard' options of either staying in hospital or inducing the labour.

The next day she went back again, expressing concern the baby was hardly moving.

But she and maintenance engineer Steven, aged 41, were told everything was okay and to go home.

The following day, the couple attended again, this time very concerned about the inactivity of the baby, but were told he was fine and was just "sleepy".

"We came back home again but then I started having back-ache and pain in my bottom and legs," said Nadia, who has a daughter Athina, aged 13, and two step-children Melanie, 19, and Dean, 17.

They returned to the hospital where a midwife failed to find the baby's heartbeat.

But, instead of raising the alarm, she told the couple she was "tired" after a night shift and was ready to go home.

"Another midwife took over the shift and found the heartbeat in minutes and realised he was in trouble," said Nadia.

She underwent an emergency caesarean section.

It was discovered she had a serious infection and Harry had been starved of oxygen.

"We think if the hospital had acted quicker then Harry may still be alive," said Nadia.

"I received appalling and lacklustre care.

"We put our trust in the NHS and it cost us our baby boy."

She has called for the dismissal of the midwives involved in her treatment and is pursuing legal action against the hospital.

Maternity services slammed

NADIA and Steven Jones' tragic experience comes as a damning report has been published - revealing a string of criticisms of Worcestershire's maternity services.

The Worcestershire Maternity Service Review, which examines all services, including at Worcestershire Royal Hospital, Kidderminster Hospital and The Alexandra, in Redditch, calls for immediate improvements in order to ensure a safe, high-quality service for mums-to-be.

"Adequate medical and midwifery staffing cannot be achieved unless action is taken," it reads.

"Service users and midwives working in Worcestershire feel that staffing levels are insufficient and that, at times, this threatens the safety of patients.

Difficulty

"It also leads to a lack of continuity of care and considerable difficulty in achieving one-to-one midwife to mother care.

"Mothers highly appreciated services that were delivered in their local hospital.

"A positive experience of care was not, however, universal."

Mums felt there was a lack of post-natal support, particularly for breast-feeding, and put it down to understaffing, it adds.

At the Royal, mums also complained of difficulty in parking.

"There is a perception among mothers that, if you give birth at Worcester, you will have a caesarean section," it added, revealing that the caesarean section rate at the Royal is higher than both the national average and guidelines.

It also revealed the Royal is the only consultant-led maternity unit in the West Midlands, yet does not have a computerised information system and without one it creates difficulty in making treatment decisions and communicating between hospitals.

"High sickness, high use of agency staff, perceived inadequate staffing levels and other issues lead to the midwives feeling stressed and undervalued," said the report.

It lists 25 recommendations to improve treatment, which will be looked at again after the results are published of an independent inquiry into two baby deaths at the Wyre Forest Birthing Centre in August, 2003.

Health chiefs have suspended deliveries at the centre following the incidents and pending the results of the inquiry.

Nadia says the closure of the centre is putting pressure on the Royal.

"I had brilliant treatment at Kidderminster hospital and a very good pregnancy until Worcester took over," he said.

"I know for a fact that the hospital has been struggling since the birthing centre closed.

"Every day I went to Worcester it was on red alert and had no beds available."

We would like to hear your experiences of Worcestershire Royal Hospital's maternity services - good and bad. Contact health reporter Emma Cullwick on 01905 742254, e-mail ec@thisisworcester.co.uk, or write to her at the Evening News, Hylton Road, Worcester, WR2 5JX.

What the hospital says . . .

"We have enormous sympathy with the family on the loss of their baby and we have met with them on several occasions in an effort to keep them fully informed of the investigation.

"The care given to Mrs Jones was appropriate and within national guidelines.

"However, we would normally have offered the parents some choices around intervention, which in this case did not happen.

"It is not possible to say, if the parents had been given all of the options available, whether the outcome would have been different.

"We would like to reiterate our sincere apologies to the family."

Priorities

John Rostill, chief executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the Royal, Kidderminster Hospital and The Alexandra, in Redditch, assured parents that the county's maternity services were safe for parents-to-be.

"The review was something we asked for and was one of our highest priorities that came out of our clinical convention in June," he said.

"We understand how precious the services are and we need to ensure that they are continued to be provided in a very safe environment."

He said the trust's board of directors had discussed the recommendations in the report and would be working on an action plan of changes over the next three months.