THE author of a critical report on failing maternity services at Barrow's hospital told investigators she believes health bosses only commissioned the document to make it look like action was being taken to improve safety for women and babies.

National nursing expert Dame Pauline Fielding carried out an assessment of the way maternity care was provided by the trust in charge of Furness General Hospital in 2009 – following a cluster of five deaths at the Dalton Lane site.

But instead of acting upon her observations and recommendations, former University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust chief executive Tony Halsall left the report in a filing cabinet where it was discovered accidentally in 2011.

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The information has come to light following the publication of interviews given by more than 100 people as part of the Morecambe Bay Investigation by patient safety expert Dr Bill Kirkup.

The inquiry, held in 2014, concluded 16 babies and three mothers died as a result of poor maternity care over a nine-year period.

The government transcripts this week revealed that Dame Fielding believed her assessment had been sought to give the appearance that something was being done to address safety concerns.

Dame Fielding said: "My impression was that the trust felt something had to be seen to be done on the serious untoward incidents and that it was just necessary to be seen trying to improve the service."

She also said: "I think I overestimated the trust's commitment to the review, which was perhaps a little naive, but I genuinely thought that the trust was fully committed to it.

"With the benefit of hindsight, I'm not sure that that was the case."

Dame Fielding was aware there had been five deaths at FGH's maternity unit in a relatively short space of time.

These are believed to have included Dalton baby Joshua Titcombe, Alex Davey-Brady, from Walney and Ulverston mum Nittaya Hendrickson and her newborn son Chester.

But Dame Fielding told Dr Kirkup that she had been instructed not to look into those cases as part of her review.

"The trust were very specific about the fact that we were not to reinvestigate those," Dame Fielding said.

The final report was submitted to UHMBT in August 2010. Initially a return visit had been expected to take place six months later to assess progress, but this was never commissioned.

Dame Fielding added: "I expected there would be a process of engagement with staff following the report, to take it further in terms of how they were going to implement it and what would happen.

"None of that took place."

Mr Halsall, who left his position as head of the hospital trust in February 2012 with a severance payment of £225,000, admitted during his own interview that not passing on the report to UHMBT's board of directors had been a mistake.

He went on to claim the document had simply got "lost" while the trust handled hundreds of other pieces of information in their pursuit of coveted foundation trust status for UHMBT – an accolade that promised more funding from the government.

The Morecambe Bay Investigation report made 44 recommendations for improvements to maternity services across south Cumbria as well as across the wider NHS.

UHMBT completed all 18 of its targets to deadline. The organisation is now on track to deliver a new £12m maternity unit for Barrow by Christmas 2017.

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