Midwives covered up mistakes after death of two newborn babies

Jasper White
Jasper White was born on June 25 2019 and died the next morning

Two midwives have been struck off after they delayed calling ambulances for two newborns, who later died in hospital, and then tried to cover up their mistakes.

Hazel Williams and Lisa Land have been thrown out of the profession following the deaths of Jasper White and Margot Bowtell.

Both babies were seriously unwell when they were born at the Aveta Birth Centre in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, a disciplinary hearing was told.

But Ms Williams, who led the unit, and Mrs Land failed to respond quickly enough and call an ambulance for them to be taken to the nearest hospital. In Jasper’s case, the pair then altered medical records to make it appear as if he was in better condition than he was.

The two were brought in front of a Nursing and Midwifery Council committee for not providing “basic midwifery care” and dishonesty.

Ms Williams and Mrs Land, who have been midwives for 34 and 16 years respectively, have both been struck off the register.

Hazel Williams (left) and Lisa Land
Hazel Williams (left) and Lisa Land worked as midwives at the Aveta Birth Centre in Cheltenham - Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

The tribunal heard that the two women worked at the midwife-led unit for low-risk pregnancies and that the nearest hospital was the Gloucestershire Royal Hospital half an hour away.

Jasper was born at the clinic on June 25 2019, but within minutes was struggling to breathe and had a “pale colour”.

However, an ambulance was not called until 50 minutes after his birth, including a 20-minute delay between Mrs Land deciding that he needed to be transferred and the emergency call being made.

It was not until an hour and a half after his birth that Jasper was officially transferred to the neonatal unit. He died the next morning from a lack of oxygen and a haemorrhage.

An expert witness told the panel that the delay “significantly shortened” his chances of survival.

The hearing was told that after Jasper’s death, Ms Williams told Mrs Land to change the “details of birth” form recording Jasper’s condition from “poor” to “good”.

Ms Williams also made changes to other statistics on the record to make it seem like Jasper was in better health than he was.

The panel concluded it was “dishonest” for the two women to make these changes and that they intended to “mislead” anyone who checked the records.

Craig and Laura Bowtell with their daughter Margot
Craig and Laura Bowtell with their daughter Margot, who died three days after delivery

On May 14 2020, almost a year after Jasper’s death, Laura Bowtell gave birth to her daughter, Margot, at the same centre.

Mrs Bowtell requested an ambulance three times in the hours leading up to Margot’s birth and it was not until the final time she asked that Ms Williams got a colleague to make the call.

However, at that point Margot’s head could be seen and it was too late to be transferred before Mrs Bowtell gave birth at 1.30pm.

Margot required immediate resuscitation and once at hospital was taken to the neonatal intensive care unit. She died three days later owing to complications from oxygen deprivation.

During the birth, her foetal heartbeat dropped below 60bpm which should have prompted an emergency response from the whole unit, led by Ms Williams as the lead midwife, the tribunal heard.

This did not happen and the panel heard that Ms Williams used the regular call bell to ask for help and not the emergency bell because it was regularly switched off as she wanted the centre to be a “home from home” without alarms going off.

Ms Williams also did not give a handover to the receiving hospital to alert them to the baby’s low heart rate, the hearing was told.

Striking off the two midwives, the panel said they had “breached fundamental tenets” of midwifery and their actions could discourage the public from seeking services at a birthing unit.