A NATIONAL midwifery body threatened to issue a legal injunction to prevent details of an "irregular" job exit deal to a scandalised hospital worker from becoming public.

Details of the payoff given to former Furness General Hospital midwife supervisor Jeanette Parkinson emerged this week following an internal investigation by the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust.

But it has now been confirmed that lawyers acting for the Royal College of Midwives desperately tried to keep the compromise agreement secret in a bid to protect Ms Parkinson - who had acted as a RCM union representative.

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UHMBT chief executive, Jackie Daniel, who took over the reins to the trust in 2013 - a year after the departure of Ms Parkinson - confirmed the RCM had issued a formal notice of injunct over the pay-off deal.

But she said her focus remained on transparency for the trust, adding she was also committed to making sure people were accountable for their actions.

"We did receive a letter indicating they would injunct us," Mrs Daniel said.

"I have given a commitment to the family of Joshua Titcombe to release the information and I was concerned to do the right thing."

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Bosses at UHMBT, which runs FGH, in Dalton Lane, uncovered the unusual terms of the deal, negotiated by former HR director Roger Wilson, during an internal investigation into the death of Dalton baby Joshua Titcombe, who lost his life, aged nine days old, in 2008.

It was found to have "significantly overpaid" Ms Parkinson when she left her post by mutual agreement in March 2012.

Ms Parkinson was said to have received 14 months of salary she was not entitled to on top of three months wages in lieu of notice and 480 hours of "unchallenged" overtime as part of the compromise agreement.

It also allowed her to leave without a review into her performance despite the fact she had worked in a supervisory capacity at FGH's maternity unit while 11 babies and one mother were said to have died needlessly as a result of poor care.

In the course of the Morecambe Bay Investigation, Dr Kirkup found emails from Ms Parkinson which referred to her midwifery colleagues as 'the musketeers' for their 'all for one' approach to outside criticism.

She was also found to have provided 'model answers' to midwives involved in the care of Joshua Titcombe ahead of an inquest into his death - an action condemned by then coroner for south and east Cumbria; Ian Smith.

James Titcombe, MBE, the father of baby Joshua, said the actions of the RCM as they attempted to conceal the details of the pay-off to Ms Parkinson were "disgusting".

He said: "The RCM is more interested in protecting its own interests than in being open and transparent, which is disgusting.

"I think Jackie Daniel deserves huge credit for showing an absolute commitment to transparency.

"This illustrates just how much the organisation (UHMBT) has changed."

Information surrounding the exit deal and pay-off have now been passed to the Nursing and Midwifery Council and government health watchdog the Care Quality Commission.

A spokesman for the Royal College of Midwives said the organisation would not comment on the matter.

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