A NURSING regulator could be investigated over its decision to spend £240,000 on lawyers tasked with hiding information on a grieving father.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council was revealed to have spent the cash on top London law firm FieldFisher LLP which heavily redacted documents provided to Dalton dad James Titcombe.

Now the Professional Standards Authority - which oversees regulators in the UK - says it has yet to adopt a formal view on the behaviour of the NMC over the incident.

But a spokesman for the PSA confirmed the launch of an investigation is a possibility - at the invitation of either the Department of Health or the NMC itself - or if its executives consider it a public protection issue.

The PSA may also look into the matter when it carries out its annual review of the NMC later this year.

"The authority is aware of the concerns about the NMC's handling of the Morecambe Bay cases and about its handling of the Data Protection Act and Freedom of Information Act requests made by Mr Titcombe," the spokesman added.

"We are monitoring the position closely and have not yet taken a view on our approach.

"It would be inappropriate for the authority to express a view on the facts at this stage."

Mr Titcombe lost his son Joshua when the little boy was just nine days old, following failures in care by midwives who treated him at Furness General Hospital.

The NMC did not summon the professionals involved to a fitness to practise hearing for eight years.

Last year, Mr Titcombe, a patient safety expert, submitted a formal request for documents mentioning him to the NMC through the DPA.

But the documents supplied were redacted so heavily that some were reduced to just 10 words, while other contained incomplete sentences.

But a spokesman for the regulator stated its chief executive Jackie Smith had approved the £240,000 bill for redaction and considered it to be 'cost effective'.

A statement released by the NMC read: "Handling the request in this way has incurred a significant cost to the NMC. However, we believe the approach taken was the best way of ensuring a full response."