'Missed opportunities' to have safely delivered baby - coroner

A coroner has said there were ‘missed opportunities’ to have safely delivered a baby who died in the Royal Oldham Hospital in April.  

Yahya Muhammad Hayat was born via emergency C-section in Tameside Hospital, more than thirty-five minutes after doctors realised he had no heartbeat.  

During the operation, doctors also found a uterine rupture – a tear in the womb. It is not known when this happened.  

Yahya was resuscitated after thirty minutes of CPR and drugs, before being transferred to Royal Oldham Hospital for more treatment. 

In his inquest report, Assistant Coroner Peter Merchant wrote: “Since arrival on the unit, Yahya examined poorly from a neurological perspective.  

“His pupils had been fixed and dilated with no spontaneous movements, no gag or cough reflex, no primitive reflex [...] Yahya’s brain MRI showed severe total intracranial injury.” 

With his parent’s permission, Yahya was taken off his ventilator, and sadly died on 25th April surrounded by family.  

Mr. Merchant said: “There were missed opportunities to have delivered Yahya sooner. 

“However, it is not known whether earlier delivery would have avoided Yahya’s death.” 

He also said changes to medical training in UK hospitals were a ‘concern’. 

Middle-grade paediatricians – who are usually in charge outside normal hospital hours - are no longer tested on newborn resuscitation. 

In complex cases like Yahya’s, who was born at 5AM, many may rely on consultants to come from outside the hospital to help patients.  

Mr. Merchant feared paediatricians of the future will have a ‘lower level of experience’ in resuscitating newborns if more training isn’t given.  

“In my opinion, there is a risk that future deaths will occur unless action is taken,” he said.  

A serious incident investigation is currently underway at Tameside Hospital following Yahya’s inquest. 

Last year Tameside General Hospital’s maternity services was told it needs to improve waiting times, especially in the antenatal clinic and the triage phone line.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out an inspection in December 2023, as part of a national programme and rated maternity services at Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust as “requires improvement”.