Did lack of ambulance cover lead to baby’s death, inquiry will ask

Published on Friday 24 February 2012 00:26

AN URGENT review of specialist baby care transport in the Highlands has been called for after it emerged that health officials are investigating the case of an infant who died after being transferred from Lochaber to Inverness.

The call, from two MSPs, follows another case in which a week-old baby and her mother had to wait for nine hours at the Belford Hospital, in Fort William, before a neonatal ambulance arrived from Dundee to transfer them to Raigmore Hospital in the Highland capital.

The baby, who died last year, has not been named. But Gary Coutts, the chairman of NHS Highland said the death of the child was now the subject of an “intensive investigation”.

He said: “We can confirm there was a case of a baby being transferred from one of our hospitals in Highland to Raigmore last year. The baby was stable during the period in the hospital and for most of the transfer. Sadly the baby later died in Raigmore.

“The loss of a baby is a tragedy and our heartfelt sympathy lies with the family. The circumstances surrounding this case have been reported to the appropriate authorities and are subject to intensive investigation.

“These investigations are complex, involve multiple teams and organisations and have not yet concluded.”

There is currently no specialist Scottish Neonatal Transport Service (SNTS) team based anywhere in the Highlands. NHS Highland has to rely on cover from SNTS teams from Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow or Edinburgh to transport babies.

Last year, the SNTS was called out 20 times to transfer babies from Raigmore Hospital. Parents of sick babies had to endure an average wait of five and a half hours for an SNTS team to arrive.

Highland MSPs Dave Thompson and Mary Scanlon have now joined forces in calling for an urgent review of specialist transport provision for babies. Mr Thompson said he had first raised his concerns following an incident, within the last two weeks, in which Ayan Virgel and Gareth Niblock had to wait nine hours for an ambulance to take their week-old daughter, Victoria, from Fort William to Inverness.

It has been claimed that the delay was due, in part, to having to wait for an ambulance crew shift change.

Mr Thompson said: “I wrote to the Scottish Neonatal Transport Service, NHS Highland and the Scottish Ambulance Service because I was concerned that delays may lead to deaths.

“In the meantime it transpired that a baby in the Highlands had actually died late last year. I have now written again, stating that in the light of this new information there has to be an urgent review into the neonatal transport of young babies throughout the Highlands.

“We need to see if we can do this better.”

He added: “The number of transfers is relatively small. But nevertheless my view is that these babies should be getting the best possible treatment that we can give them.”

Ms Scanlon said: “I am really shocked by this. People living in the Highlands and islands should know whether this loss of life was caused by any delay in transferring the baby.”

She called on the results of the investigation to be made public to “reassure parents that neonatal transfer can be done safely”