A NEWBORN Haverfordwest baby died in hospital after delays in treatment and attendance by medical staff, an investigation by the Ombudsman has found.

Chris and Ellie James, of Haverfordwest, were told their son, Callum, born at Glangwili, was stillborn in 2016.

However, the couple believe Callum was still alive and died in their arms.

In the Ombudsman report, Ellie, referred to as Mrs A (anonymised) complained about the care and treatment that she and her late son, Callum, referred to as Baby C, received from Glangwili and Withybush General Hospitals in May 2016.

The couple and Callum were later named in a BBC report.

Mrs James complained there had been failures to monitor Baby C’s development during her pregnancy and labour and to provide her with a birthing plan.

Other complaints included a failure to respond to her concerns about unusual pains during labour.

Mrs James also said, following Callum’s birth, there had been a failure to conduct necessary tests, and there had been a delay in Callum seeing a paediatrician and receiving treatment.

There was also a failure to conduct a full investigation into the cause of Callum’s death which resulted in Mr and Mrs James being given different reasons for his death.

The Health Board also failed to adequately respond to her complaint about the different explanations she was given, and Callum’s death was incorrectly registered as a ‘stillbirth’.

The Ombudsman upheld the complaint. He found that concerns raised by Mrs James during the pregnancy and in labour were dismissed by medical staff.

During labour, there was no investigation of complaints of unusual sharp pains by Mrs James, and there were delays in a consultant paediatrician attending when Callum was born, because he was given incorrect information on the location of the birth.

The Health Board failed to undertake appropriate tests on Mrs James and on Callum after his birth. This affected the Health Board’s investigation into the cause of his death and caused significant worry and distress to the family.

The Ombudsman also found that Callum’s death was incorrectly registered as a stillbirth rather than a neonatal death, meaning the parents were denied the opportunity to discuss organ donation.

The Ombudsman concluded that there was an injustice for Mr and Mrs James as they will never know if their son would have survived if there had been no delays in treatment and in the consultant paediatrician attending after Callum’s birth.

Public Services Ombudsman for Wales Nick Bennett said: “Clearly Mr and Mrs A have been through a heart-breaking experience and I hope the outcome of my office’s investigation brings them some small comfort.

“There was a lack of ownership and consistency in Mrs A’s and Baby C’s care, and a whole host of failings that should not have occurred.

“The injustice arising from the decision to record a stillbirth has been significant for Mr and Mrs A as they believed that when Baby C had been passed to them he was alive and had died in their arms.

“It is vital the Hywel Dda University Health Board learns the lessons from these mistakes to ensure they do not happen again.”

Hywel Dda agreed to implement all of the Ombudsman’s recommendations, including providing Mr and Mrs James with an apology for the failings identified, and pay Mrs A £4,500 in recognition of the distress, delay and uncertainty she experienced in this matter. The Board also agreed to change Callum’s status from ‘stillborn’ to ‘neonatal death’.