A MUM from Cumbria has told how she chose to have her second baby at East Lancashire’s award-winning maternity unit, after her first child died following alleged failings at Furness General Hospital.

Kate Murray spoke out as investigators, who examined standards of care at Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust from 2004 to 2013, published damning findings.

MORE TOP STORIES:

Mrs Murray’s son Ellis suffered oxygen starvation during his birth at the maternity unit in Barrow-in-Furness and died the next day after being transferred to Burnley General Hospital. She filed a negligence claim against the Morecambe trust, which runs the Furness hospital; it was settled last year.

The inquiry yesterday said a “lethal mix” of failures at Furness led to the deaths of 11 babies and one mother. It called the incidents shocking.

Nursery nurse Ms Murray said she was so concerned about the treatment received at Furness that she chose to have her next child at Burnley.

She said there were no problems during her pregnancy in 2011 and a normal delivery was expected. But on the morning of July 27 she said midwives called a doctor to break her waters. She said she was told this had to be done by a doctor rather than a midwife because of the risk of cord prolapse.

Ms Murray said: “I had been saying throughout that something did not feel right. But the midwives were not concerned about my reaction. I later found out that they thought I was being dramatic and irrational.”

Later, staff were unable to detect a fetal heartbeat — and shortly after, a prolapsed cord was discovered. Ms Murray said she was rushed to theatre and Ellis was delivered by emergency caesarean but was in a very poor condition.

He was moved to Burnley but the next day a consultant told the family there was no brain activity and Ellis would never be able to breathe on his own.

Kate added: “My daughter was the worst affected after Ellis died.

“When I was pregnant next, she was very anxious. I had my next baby at Burnley.”