A PAIR of self-proclaimed "musketeer midwives" accused of failing to provide proper care for a baby boy have finally been summoned to a disciplinary hearing - seven years after his death.

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The actions of Furness General Hospital maternity workers Lindsey Biggs and Holly Parkinson are alleged to have either contributed to the death of Dalton newborn Joshua Titcombe in October 2008 or compromised his chances of survival.

The pair now face being struck off the Nursing and Midwifery Council register if the case against them is proven at two separate hearings next month.

Ms Biggs will attend a three-day hearing first - between May 18 and 21.

She is said to have failed to conduct observations on Joshua as he fought a treatable infection over the course of three hours on October 27 and to have failed to refer him to a paediatrician on account of his low temperature.

Ms Biggs is also alleged to have failed to record adequately the care provided to the infant and his mother, Hoa Titcombe, in Mrs Titcombe's patient notes.

Ms Parkinson, who will go before the panel between May 23 and 26, is alleged to have failed to record the advice of a paediatrician who said Joshua should be observed every three hours,  of failing to document the care she provided to him and failing to refer his low temperature to a doctor.

The formal notice of the hearings from the NMC, the organisation that regulates nurses and midwives in the UK, states: "Your actions contributed to the death of Baby A or caused Baby A to lose a significant chance of survival. 

"And in light of the above, your fitness to practise is impaired by reason of your misconduct."

Ms Biggs and Ms Parkinson are still registered to provide care to women and babies at Barrow's maternity unit without restriction on their practice.

Both were interviewed as part of the Morecambe Bay Investigation which found a band of midwives who referred to themselves as "musketeers" had been at the centre of a scandal in care which resulted in the deaths of 11 babies and one mother.