A NURSE has been sacked following a hospital investigation into the death of baby Charlie Louise Taylor, Burnley Health Trust revealed today.

Another nurse has been reprimanded and ordered to take re-training as a result of the incident in which hours-old baby Charlie received 100 times more oxygen than normal, bursting her lungs and causing a brain haemorrhage.

An inquest last year revealed that a connector was not fitted to an air supply triggering the tragedy at Burnley General Hospital on January 19 1997.

Sister Dorothy Holgate and Staff Nurse Susan Ball had been suspended on full pay for more than two years as police and health investigations went on.

Today Burnley Health Trust, which launched its own inquiry after East Lancashire Coroner David Smith recorded a verdict of misadventure at last year's inquest into the death of the Colne baby, declined to identify which nurse had been suspended and which reprimanded. After an intensive investigation, the Crown Prosecution Service decided against criminal proceedings.

In January the Health Trust said a statement on the findings of the internal investigation would go to last month's public board meeting of the trust.

A spokesman later said the inquiry was incomplete and there would be no report.

However it is understood directors did deal with the issue in the private section of the meeting when the decisions on the nurses were announced. The decision has been upheld following an appeal.

A brief statement from Burnley Health Trust today confirms that the disciplinary process of the nurses involved in the death of the baby was concluded on Monday.

"As a result of that process one nurse has been dismissed from Trust employment." The statement promises a full report at the next trust board meeting on March 24. Baby Charlie's parents, Neil Taylor and Gemma Wadsworth, of Colne, have since had another baby.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.