Leeds General Infirmary midwives’ actions before baby’s death scrutinised

A fitness to practise hearing has begun for two midwives involved in the care of a mother whose baby died 27 minutes after she was born.

Fiona Winser-Ramm and Dan Ramm’s daughter, Aliona, died at Leeds General Infirmary in the early hours of 1 January 2020.

A 2023 inquest previously found there were “a number of gross failures of the most basic nature that directly contributed to Aliona’s death”.

Giving evidence at the start of the Nursing and Midwifery Council hearing into Ruksana Bibi and Yasmin Karolia on Wednesday, Winser-Ramm said: “There isn’t an inch of my life that hasn’t been destroyed or seriously damaged since the death of my daughter.”

Winser-Ramm and her husband were among a group of bereaved and harmed families who successfully campaigned for an independent inquiry into “repeated failures” at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust’s maternity units.

The Trust previously said it was already “taking significant steps to address improvements”.

At the beginning of her evidence, Winser-Ramm held up a photo of her daughter and said: “I want people to remember she is not a case number, she is not a poor outcome, she is not a piece of paper sitting on your desk, but she is our perfect daughter.”

She added: “All that I wanted, expected or had the right to receive was good quality care, treatment and to take my daughter home.

“We didn’t even receive the absolute basics of care.”

Winser-Ramm told the hearing she had phoned Bibi after noticing a discharge which concerned her.

She said: “Something didn’t feel right about the situation. However, I was met with no concern [and] no suggestion about what it could be.

“When you are a woman in labour for the first time you believe in everything, and have trust in everything, by the people you believe are the experts.”

A call record said Winser-Ramm had not reported spontaneous rupture of membranes (SROM) – a sign she was going into labour – which the witness said was “absolutely not true”.

Having initially been told to stay at home, Winser-Ramm was later told to come into hospital for an assessment after speaking to another healthcare professional.

While in hospital, her baby’s heart rate was categorised as pathological or abnormal using a cardiotocograph (CTG).