Dr Bill Kirkup CBE The practices of the group, working within Furness General Hospital at Barrow between 2004 and 2013, were criticised by government patient safety expert Dr Bill Kirkup, CBE, in the controversial Morecambe Bay Report.
But panel hearings for the remaining seven midwives have not yet been brought forward by the Nursing and Midwifery Council – the industry regulator for nurses and midwives – since the document laid bare failings in care at all levels.
The findings led Dr Kirkup and his team to conclude that 11 babies and one mother had died needlessly within FGH while a number of others had suffered unnecessary harm.
Patient safety campaigner James Titcombe, father of Joshua Titcombe, who lost his life after staff failed to treat a preventable infection following his birth at the hospital in 2008, described the delays as “appalling”.
He said: “These hearings are simply a chance for the evidence to be properly heard and tested in a fair and open way. This is what everyone needs to happen.”
Mr Titcombe, from Dalton, added: “Let’s have the evidence tested.
“It’s appalling and not fair for anyone that it’s taken so long and I hope there will be urgent action to address this.”
The only midwife to face a panel hearing so far has been band seven midwife Marie Ratcliffe, from Arnside.
She was found guilty of a catalogue of blunders while employed by the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust – the organisation that runs FGH - in April.
Her actions were said to have contributed to the deaths of Dalton newborn Elleanor Bennett, in 2004, and Alex Davey-Brady, from Walney, who was stillborn in 2008.
Mrs Ratcliffe was struck off from the register of midwives after admitting 64 allegations.
But a spokesman for the NMC, based in London, said the remaining cases were “in train”, and necessary legal processes were under way.
He said: “A meeting was held on August 4 at the NMC to consider directions for the hearings of a number of midwives facing allegations resulting from the failings in midwifery care at Morecambe Bay.
A hearing has been scheduled for October to hear legal arguments and further information will be available after this time.”
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