A HOSPITAL has admitted it made a mistake when a woman felt a surgeon's knife cutting in to her during the Caesarean birth of her daughter.

Joanne Needs has suffered flashbacks, anxiety and nightmares since the delivery of her daughter Ruby, on Sunday, April 22, 2001 at the former Ronkswood hospital.

She is now suing Worcestershire Acute NHS Trust for £332,000, although the case is unlikely to go to court after this week's admission that the hospital was at fault.

"We have accepted that our anaesthetic management team fell below our usual high standards and have apologised to the family," said a Trust spokesman.

"Our solicitors and theirs are in negotiation over the amount of compensation."

Mrs Needs says doctors failed to test the efficiency of an epidural before the caesarean.

She says she felt the scalpel slice into her and called on the surgeon to stop, which he did. But after consulting with another doctor about giving her a general anaesthetic, he then decided to carry on.

The former RSPCA inspector continued to scream at the surgeon, who allegedly replied: "Keep still," and then, later on, to have told her: "You've given me a heart attack."

Mrs Needs, who is now living in Alicante, Spain, with her husband and daughter, is said to have suffered "from considerable mental stress following the delivery," according to the High Court writ.

"She began to experience flashbacks, symptoms of anxiety and nightmares... and found hospital attendances with Ruby very traumatic."

The operation is also said to have had an effect on her 32-year-old husband Gareth.

He has had to quit his £40,000-a-year job making replica sports cars after he developed a "major depressive disorder precipitated by the birth of Ruby," the claim says.

"His symptoms were a persistent mood of unhappiness, poor concentration, sleep and appetite disturbance, poor energy levels, loss of motivation and feelings of low self-esteem."

Mr and Mrs Needs are asking for a total of £332,000 compensation. A spokesperson for their solicitors Russell, Jones and Walker, of Gray's Inn Road, London said: "Now that the hospital has accepted responsibility we anticipate the matter will be settled quite quickly."

Recent figures show that Caesarean births have reached records levels, fuelling fears about the demise of natural deliveries.

More than 20 per cent of all babies born in England last year were delivered by Caesarean section.