AN MP claims he should have backed a campaign for an inquiry into the deaths of mothers and babies at a scandalised maternity unit sooner, in government papers released for the first time this week.

Barrow and Furness MP John Woodcock issued a heartfelt apology to families who lost loved ones at Furness General Hospital when he was interviewed as part of the controversial Morecambe Bay Investigation by patient safety expert Dr Bill Kirkup.

In a new interview with the Evening Mail, the father of two said he had been wrongly 'taken in' by false assurances on the safety of maternity services for women and children from those in charge of the hospital.

He said: "Like many others, I think I was wrongly taken in by assurances given by the leadership of the trust at the time.

"I've thought about this a lot, and I understand that people felt a loyalty towards the hospital, but there was so much animosity waged against the families who were already coping with the grief and devastation of losing a child.

"Yet they maintained a dignity, stuck with their path of seeking an inquiry and justice for those they had lost.

"James Titcombe was absolutely right, and only because of his steadfast determination that we now have improvements not just in our hospital, but right across the NHS."

Mr Woodcock appeared before the panel of experts formed to investigate multiple failures at the Dalton Lane hospital – which led to the deaths of 16 babies and three women – in 2014.

It concluded 11 babies and one woman died as a direct result of poor care over a nine-year period, while management failures and cover ups rippled through multiple layers of the NHS.

READ MORE: Barrow maternity scandal interviews reveal bosses knew babies were dying

Mr Woodcock also told the panel that in 2010, when he first met Mr Titcombe, Walney parents Liza and Simon Davey-Brady and Ulverston dad Carl Hendrickson, many people within Barrow's community believed the deaths of babies were "isolated incidents".

In the transcripts, Mr Woodcock also said his ex-wife Mandy Telford and youngest daughter Molly were treated for a potentially fatal infection in Barrow's maternity unit in 2012 – leading him to draw parallels between his own family and that of Dalton father James Titcombe, whose son Joshua had died four years previously.

Mr Woodcock said: "My wife and my youngest daughter's lives were saved by midwives and the team at FGH.

"It is a striking point to me and something that I have reflected upon a lot, but both of them picked up an infection when Molly was born, which if it had not been treated in a fairly routine way would probably have ultimately proved fatal."

Transcripts of 100 interviews undertaken during the process were finally released by the Department of Health this week in a move designed to promote transparency around investigations and inquiries.

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