Hospital criticised for not treating 'deteriorating' baby

A hospital maternity unit scrutinised after the deaths of two baby girls was again in the spotlight when a coroner said heart monitoring had "failed" to trigger concerns about a boy who died within a day of being born brain damaged.

Tom Osborne, the coroner, said evidence showed that Alex Broughton's decline at Milton Keynes General Hospital in December 2009 would normally have been reflected in a changing heart rate.

In 2008, Mr Osborne criticised the hospital following the death of Romy Feast, who died in 2007 after data was misinterpreted. And in 2009, Mr Osborne said midwife shortages at the hospital were "scandalous" after hearing how Ebony McCall had died on an overstretched maternity ward in May 2009.

The hospital said the circumstances surrounding deaths of the two girls and Alex had been "different".