Hospital apologises and says there was an IT system issue

SIMON Mehigan, Divisional Director of Midwifery and Gynaecology at The Royal Oldham Hospital, said: “We would like to offer our sincerest apologies to the family for any distress and upset they have experienced; we have continued to support them through this hard time, explaining what went wrong.

“There was an issue with the IT system that we use to record births, which caused confusion about whether their son should or should not be registered as stillborn.

“Once the issue was identified and it was clarified that their baby boy did not need to be registered, a member of our staff contacted the Registrar’s office to inform them of the situation.

“It would appear there was then a breakdown in communication leading to the family receiving a letter asking them to register their baby.

“In relation to the ongoing antenatal appointments that were received following the baby’s death, we have now instigated a process to ensure this does not happen again and we have amended the process relating to our IT system so that a similar incident does not occur.

“Our deepest sympathies go to the family at this sad time.”

Coun Arooj Shah, Oldham Council deputy leader and cabinet member responsible for the Register Office service said: “By law, stillborn babies – those born after 24 weeks of pregnancy and beyond – have to be formally registered. This must be done within 42 days of the birth and we must ensure this happens.

“Where we are notified of such a case, we are required, by law, to write to the family to ask them to register. We do all that we can, wherever possible, to minimise the impact of this requirement on the families affected.”