NHS Highland says sorry for baby's death
NHS Highland’s Chief Executive has made a personal and unreserved apology to a family for the tragic loss of their baby daughter following an unplanned home birth in 2009.
The family raised their concerns with the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman’s Office for detailed investigation. NHS Highland has now received the Ombudsman’s Report which makes a number of conclusions. One of the findings was that we failed to provide adequate standards of care before, during and after the birth.
NHS Highland Chief Executive, Elaine Mead, said: “This is a really tragic case with devastating consequences. I offer my personal and unreserved apology and sincere condolences to the family. I will continue to lead and support colleagues, to ensure, as far as possible that something, like this can not happen again.”
Dr Ian Bashford Medical Director for NHS Highland said: “We carried out our own internal investigation at the time but we also really welcome the independent review by the Ombudsman’s Office.
“We fully accept the recommendations which were consistent with our own findings. As a result of our own investigation into this serious matter we took a number of actions to prevent such a tragedy arising in the future.
