A GRIEVING father has hit out at the country's nursing and midwifery regulator which took seven years to strike off a midwife who failed to properly care for his baby boy.

Sacked Furness General Hospital midwife Lindsey Biggs was banned from practising anywhere in the country yesterday after Nursing and Midwifery Council experts declared her a danger to the public.

They declared the former Barrow maternity worker was in "self denial", had an "attitudinal problem" and had failed to accept any responsibility for her "deplorable" actions which caused Dalton newborn Joshua Titcombe to lose a significant chance of survival after his birth in 2008.

But Joshua's father James Titcombe said the seven-year delay to haul Ms Biggs before a fitness to practice panel meant the NMC had failed in its duty to protect other mothers and babies.

"All we ever wanted was for the truth to be established and the necessary learning and actions to be taken to prevent others going through the same agony as us," Mr Titcombe said.

"Instead of this, we faced years of dishonesty and deceit.

"Not only has this made our grief so much harder, it has meant that other mothers and babies have been put at risk."

Mr Titcombe added: "The facts regarding Joshua's death have not changed in the seven plus years since he died; that it has taken the NMC this long to investigate and take action is a shocking indictment of an organisation that clearly isn't fit for purpose.

"Urgent action is needed to reform the NMC as the current system is failing the very people it exists to protect."

Joshua died from a lung haemorrhage nine days after being born at FGH in October 2008 after contracting a treatable infection.

Ms Biggs was found to have failed to ensure Joshua's observations were conducted at the recommended intervals after his birth or to have referred him to a doctor when his temperature dropped.

These failures in care led to him suffering "unwarranted harm" before his death, NMC experts found.

The panel also noted Ms Biggs, who failed to attend her hearing at the NMC headquarters in London, had been referred to the panel over the death of a second baby in March this year – in a case that bore similarities to that of Joshua Titcombe.

NMC panel chairman Stuart Gray said Biggs concluded there was a "high risk of repetition were Miss Biggs to remain on the register".

"This was a single incident, but the consequences were grave," he said.

"There is evidence of repetition, in that the NMC has received a new referral.

"She has not accepted and taken full responsibility for her actions and omissions."

Mr Gray added: "To allow her to continue would undermine the profession and the NMC as its regulatory body.

"We determined that the only appropriate and proportionate sanction is a striking off order."

The latest hearing comes in the wake of the damning Kirkup Report, which identified a series of failings at Barrow's maternity unit which resulted in the avoidable deaths of 11 babies and one mother between 2004 and 2013.