A SENIOR midwife at the heart of a baby deaths scandal has admitted repeatedly failing to properly investigate her colleagues' shortcomings.

Jeanette Parkinson, the former maternity risk manager at Barrow's Furness General Hospital, committed misconduct due to her "inadequate" review into the deaths of two mothers and three babies.

A hearing at the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) was told Miss Parkinson did not inform the health authorities of her fellow midwives' shortcomings in caring for patients who later died.

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The oversights between 2008 and 2009 included failure to monitor a unborn baby's heart rate and an inadequate 32-week review of an expectant mother.

Because Miss Parkinson did not report the episodes, neither the quality of care or standard of midwifery were investigated in several cases.

In 2015, the Morecambe Bay Investigation concluded a "lethal mix'' of failures led to the unnecessary deaths of 11 babies and one mother on the maternity unit between 2004 and 2013.

Today, Miss Parkinson, from Barrow, admitted a string of charges - which concluded her "inadequate analysis" into the care led to risk not being properly considered - and that she was was no longer fit to practice.

But she denied failing to report keeping records in two cases of caring for mothers and their babies and not reporting a midwife not following clinical procedures.

At the hearing in London, Grace Hansen, representing the NMC, said: "Jeanette Parkinson was employed as a maternity risk manager at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Foundation Trust between 2004 and 2012.

"Miss Parkinson was also appointed as supervisor of midwives by the professional local supervising authority and that from November in 2008 there were two maternal and three neonatal deaths at Furness General Hospital, one of the hospitals at the trust.

"The charges brought by the NMC ... relate to Miss Parkinson's inadequate investigation of each of these tragic events on behalf of the trust or the LSA.

"Miss Parkinson has admitted many of these charges and accepts that they amount to misconduct and that her fitness to practice is impaired by reason of that misconduct.

"The parties agree that the only appropriate and proportionate sanction is a striking-off order."

The panel then retired to consider whether Ms Parkinson should be struck off from the medical register.

The midwife was suspected to be a member of a close-knit group of staff known as the "musketeers" - so named because of their "one-for-all" approach in dealing with criticism.

A culture of defensiveness, denial and blame-shifting was said in the Morecambe Bay Investigation to have evolved when it became obvious there were serious problems within the unit.

Among a catalogue of allegations made against Miss Parkinson by the 2015 panel was that she had helped write and circulate answers for the midwives' evidence at the 2011 inquest into the death of Dalton newborn Joshua Titcombe.

The review also flagged concerns her role as midwife supervisor and risk manager posed a conflict of interest which compromised her objectivity.

On Monday, the NMC acknowledged the years it had taken to bring action against the midwife would have impacted the bereaved families.

Ms Hansen added: "The NMC recognises the length of time which has passed since 2008 and acknowledges the delay and the impact this has caused the families who have been contacted for comment."

Three of the families affected were said to have been contacted by the NMC - but the fourth were not out of concern it might "distress" them to discuss the case, the hearing was told.

Ms Parkinson is the seventh midwife to be probed by the NMC over the scandal, two of whom were also struck off while another was suspended.

Ms Parkinson was found to be "significantly overpaid" by as much as 14 months under a redundancy agreement with the trust in 2012, sparking a "fit and proper" investigation into HR manager Roger Wilson.

Mr Wilson resigned from his position with Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Trust while under investigation over the matter last month.

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