THE lives of three newborn babies could have been saved if “reasonable precautions” had been taken, a fatal accident inquiry found today.

The inquiry, before Sheriff Principal Aisha Anwar KC, was launched after the deaths of newborns Leo Lamont, Ellie McCormick and Mira-Belle Bosch.

Just two hours old, Leo died at University Hospital Monklands on February 15 2019, while five-hour-old Ellie died at Wishaw General Hospital just weeks later on March 5, and 12-hour-old Mira-Belle died on July 2 2021, also at Wishaw General Hospital.

In each case, the child’s mother had been in contact with their hospital hours before giving birth, but had been advised to stay home, and in one case, paramedics had to try five times before being able to make telephone contact with a maternity unit.

In each case the baby was born brain-injured for the want of oxygen.

Sheriff Principal Anwar told the inquiry: “The death of a child is an unimaginable and deeply painful event in any parent’s life; one from which it is undoubtedly difficult to recover.”

Her report highlighted “defects in systems of working,” including a lack of guidance for midwives in assessing symptoms and the lack of an “effective means” of flagging pregnant women’s risk on hospital systems.

Concluding that “reasonable precautions” might “realistically” have saved each baby’s life, the report makes 11 recommendations, including creating a “trigger list” for identifying preterm labour symptoms, and a dedicated telephone to give paramedics direct access to maternity units.

Procurator fiscal Andy Shanks, who leads on fatalities investigations for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, said: “I hope that these proceedings provided the families with the answers they sought and the sheriff principal’s determination, which is extensive and detailed, helps to prevent similar deaths in the future.”