A NEW investigation into the preventable death of a baby boy eight years ago has confirmed the newborn and his mother fell victim to shocking standards of care at Barrow's hospital.

Joshua Titcombe died aged nine days old of a treatable infection after his birth at Furness General Hospital in 2008.

Now, for the first time, hospital bosses have undertaken a full internal review of the care received by the little boy and his mother, Hoa Titcombe, as the pair battled sepsis on the shamed maternity ward.

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The findings of the report, written by a team of experts from Manchester, conclude Joshua would have almost certainly survived had he have been given antibiotics after his birth.

But they go on to allege the lives of other babies could have been saved in the intervening years had an investigation into baby Joshua's death been launched straight away.

Joshua's father, James Titcombe, from Dalton, spent eight years fighting for the launch of an internal investigation into the tragic loss of his son.

The 38-year-old said it made for tough reading.

"It's so sad," Mr Titcombe told the Evening Mail.

"If there had been a proper investigation at the time other families would not have been through the pain that we have endured.

"It's a myth that families want a head on the block when something goes wrong. What they want is honesty, acceptance of what went wrong and learning to make sure it doesn't happen again.

"This was denied to us for such a long time. I'm glad the trust has done this finally and I hope other organisations will learn from these findings now."

Jackie Daniel, chief executive of the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust, the body in charge of FGH, said: "No-one will disagree when I say that this type of full investigation into the whole case and the questions raised afterwards should have been done much sooner by the trust.

"That is the one thing that I, as chief executive, regret, and we whole heartedly apologise for the additional distress that this delay caused James, Hoa and their family."

Concerns over standards of care within FGH's maternity unit prompted the launch of a government investigation by patient safety expert Dr Bill Kirkup.

His report, the Morecambe Bay Investigation, concluded 11 babies and one mother had died as a direct result of poor care and a 'toxic' culture within the unit over a nine year period.

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