An NHS Trust has been fined £800,000 after admitting to failing to care for a mother and her baby, who died minutes after being born.
Wynter Sophia Andrews died on September 15, 2019 in the arms of her parents, Sarah and Gary, when she was just 23 minutes old, after being born by emergency Caesarean section.
In what is the first time the trust has ever been criminally prosecuted, it pleaded guilty to two counts relating to failures in both Wynter’s and Mrs Andrews’ care.
Sentencing the trust today at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court, District Judge Grace Leong said: “The catalogue of failings and errors exposed Mrs Andrews and her baby to a significant risk of harm which was avoidable, and such errors ultimately resulted in the death of Wynter and post-traumatic stress for Mrs Andrews and Mr Andrews.
“My assessment is that the level of culpability is high, where offences on Wynter and Mrs Andrews are concerned.
“There were systems in place, but there were so many procedures and practices where guidance was not followed or adhered to or implemented.”
However, she said she was “acutely aware” that any fine would have to be paid out of public funds which would otherwise be spent on patient care.
She added: “In giving the trust full credit for its early guilty pleas, the fine will be £800,000. The trust will also pay a victim surcharge of £181.
“The costs of the prosecution are reasonable and proportionate to the fine. In such circumstances, it is reasonable to direct that all prosecution costs are met by the trust.”
The prosecution costs amount to £13,668.65, with Bernard Thorogood, mitigating on behalf of the trust, asking for two years to pay the sum.
An inquest in 2020 found that baby Wynter might have survived but for the failings and mistakes of staff supposed to be caring for her at Queen’s Medical Centre.
It found that she died from hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy – a loss of oxygen flow to the brain – 23 minutes and 30 seconds after being born, which could have been prevented had staff delivered her earlier.
Wynter's heartbroken mother Sarah, a council worker who now lives in Mansfield, said she felt "desperate, forgotten about and abandoned" after she was admitted to the hospital the day before.
The inquest heard how staff failed to recognise that Ms Andrews was in established and not latent labour.
They then failed to act on high blood pressure readings and carried out four “inaccurate and insufficient handovers” as apart of a catalogue of errors that all led up to Wynter’s death.
Midwives at the Queen's Medical Centre told the court they were "overworked and understaffed" and said they didn't feel able to professionally challenge colleagues at the hospital.
The trust’s maternity unit was deemed as “inadequate” by the Care Quality Commission in its last inspection in March 2022.
