A DECISION by the UK's nursing regulator not to suspend a disgraced Barrow midwife was based on a series of flawed reports taken solely at face value, a report has revealed.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council allowed Lindsey Biggs to remain in post for eight years after the avoidable death of Joshua Titcombe in 2008.

She was eventually struck off for failings in the care she provided to the little boy - but not until she had overseen the birth of another baby who died; Poppy Rushton in 2016.

Today, the conclusions of a learning review set up to find out whether the NMC should have suspended Miss Biggs at an earlier stage are revealed following an 18 month battle for access by The Mail in a bid to secure answers for families affected.

The release of the document follows the publication of a damning report on the NMC's handling of the Morecambe Bay maternity tragedy which saw 11 babies and one mother suffer avoidable deaths.

The document, kept secret by the under fire regulator since its completion in 2016, concludes the NMC did not have enough evidence to suspend Miss Biggs in the public interest, despite serious concerns over her conduct.

But it also shows the decisions were based upon a series of reports and investigations considered flawed.

They included an investigation by the North West Local Supervisory Authority, which stated criticisms of the actions of the midwife were not representative of the care received by the infant.

But Tom Kark QC, who wrote the learning review, said of this: "Again, this was difficult to justify when the outcome of the 'satisfactory care' was a needlessly dead baby."

Mr Kark went on to set out that concerns of collusion among the midwives by south Cumbria coroner Ian Smith at Joshua's inquest was of 'considerable significance' given it alluded to 'probable perjury'.

"More careful consideration ought to have been given following the coroners inquest," he wrote.

The NMC, which is responsible for making sure nurses and midwives are safe to practice in the UK, also took a 'naive' approach to other evidence it considered.

This included accepting the word of former Barrow hospital trust boss Tony Halsall when he pledged he had no underlying concerns for the competency of the midwives on staff.

The document, however, reveals NMC bosses should have considered the motive behind Mr Halsall's view.

Mr Kark stated: "...to lay such emphasis on the views of the chief executive of the very trust where this serious clinical error had occurred, which employed these midwives and which was no doubt facing a civil action as well as a coroner's inquest might itself be regarded as naive.

"Was that view capable of being objective and independent?" he added.

After five years and numerous external reports into the conduct of Lindsey Biggs, the NMC's investigating panel was not likely to have succeeded in securing an interim suspension order on the grounds of incompetence, the report found.

Had long running concerns over her collusion with other midwives over the account of failures in Joshua's care been proven, however, she would have been suspended pending a fitness to practice hearing, it continued.

Lindsey Biggs was eventually suspended to protect the public following the death of Poppy Rushton two years ago.

James Titcombe MBE, the father of baby Joshua, voiced his disgust that the NMC had kept the report secret for so long.

Its actions were not those of an organisation committed to transparency and openness, he said.

Mr Titcombe added: "It's shocking that this report wasn't released earlier.

"This organisation took data and evidence simply at face value which is unacceptable."

A spokesman for the NMC said: “We take the recommendations of the PSA’s lessons learned review seriously.

"In light of this we have undertaken a fresh balancing exercise and have decided that it’s now in the public interest for us to disclose Tom Kark QC’s legal opinion.

"In reaching this decision, we’ve also borne in mind that the fitness to practise proceedings against the midwives concerned have all now concluded."

Victory for The Mail's battle for transparency as secret report is released

THE disclosure of the top secret document today marks a victory for The Mail's 18 month battle for transparency as it strove to secure answers for the families involved.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council announced it had launched a learning review into its handling of the case of disgraced Barrow midwife Lindsey Biggs in 2016.

It has always refused to disclose the review after stating the document contained confidential advice from its lawyer.

But in a bid to deliver its findings to the grieving families of babies Joshua Titcombe and Poppy Rushton, The Mail continued to press the case for transparency, even pursuing a legal challenge through the courts in March.

The live case, heard in Manchester, was adjourned for the publication of a report into the NMC's behaviour by the Professional Standards Authority.

This report, published today, concluded the NMC failed the families who lost loved ones in Barrow's maternity unit.

It also stated one patient had died and two more had been harmed by midwives already under investigation by the regulator, which ignored urgent warnings from Cumbria police over the safety of mothers and babies on the ward.