A TRUST will be reviewing if a banned midwife can still sit on a maternity risk and management team.

Holly Parkinson was yesterday suspended from the midwifery register for nine months after failing to properly care for a newborn baby before he died.

She caused nine-day-old Joshua Titcombe to "lose a significant chance of survival' when he suffered a lung haemorrhage at Furness General Hospital in 2008.

Staff at the hospital have been blamed for a series of deaths of babies and mothers dating from 2004 and the unit has been the subject of a huge police investigation.

Mrs Parkinson and colleague Lindsey Biggs both failed to carry out proper observations and did not "escalate" the situation when Joshua's temperature plummeted.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council found them both guilty of misconduct but concluded that their actions did not directly contribute to Joshua's death.

Mrs Parkinson is involved in conducting reviews of incidents at the hospital as a quality and safety midwife within the maternity risk and management team.

NMC panel chairman Stuart Gray told Mrs Parkinson she was "still in a state of denial" as he announced the decision to issue a suspension for nine months rather than strike her off the register.

He told her: 'You have not yet accepted or taken responsibility for your actions or omissions."

Joshua developed pneumococcal septicaemia after a treatable infection that had been passed to him from his mum Hoa and was missed by midwives following the birth. Both were left in a freezing room but the observation charts for Joshua and his care plan have mysteriously vanished.

The NMC panel found Mrs Parkinson did not treat Joshua or his mother as the focus of her practice and that her conduct placed Joshua "at unwarranted risk of harm."

They concluded that both Mrs Parkinson and Ms Biggs caused Joshua to lose a significant chance of survival and Mrs Parkinson's current fitness to practice was found impaired by reason of her misconduct.

When asked by the Evening Mail if the midwife would continue to be on the safety panel Sue Smith, executive chief nurse at the trust, said: "We are aware of the NMC's decision to suspend a midwife for nine months, followed by a further review, after her practice was found to be impaired.

"We will be reviewing the information from the hearing and any recommendations we may receive from the NMC, and will take any further action as appropriate."