Parents searching for answers after 'small but strong' baby died in Sheffield hospital

Cassian Curry was pronounced dead in the early hours of April 5 in 2021 on Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Trust's Jessop Wing maternity unit, which has been rated inadequate by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

His parents James and Karolina said he was born prematurely – at 28 weeks – following a successful round of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment.

An inquest, which will examine the circumstances surrounding the baby’s death, began today at Sheffield Medico Legal Centre and it is expected to last four days.

The parents have hired solicitors from Switalskis Solicitors to represent them at the inquest, as they believe there may be some evidence of clinical negligence.

In a statement, the law firm said: "Cassian was small but strong and his parents were told that there were no problems that would affect his survival outside the usual prematurity survival statistics.

The couple want to find out whether the Umbilical Venous Catheter, which was being used to feed Cassian, was placed correctly and if enough staff were on the ward to provide a safe level of care during the bank holiday weekend.

Read more:

The CQC said Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust had failed to make the required improvements to maternity services when it visited in October and November, despite receiving previous warnings.

The service did not have enough midwifery staff with the “right qualifications, skills, training and experience to keep women safe from avoidable harm and to provide the right care and treatment”, the watchdog said.

When it came to medical staff, the CQC also ruled the “service did not have enough medical staff with the right qualifications, skills, and experience to keep women and babies safe from avoidable harm and to provide the right care and treatment”.

The CQC previously identified significant patient safety concerns in March 2021, which saw the rating of the maternity service deteriorate to inadequate, but said its reinspection found “there was little or no improvement to the quality of care patients received… in some areas the service had deteriorated further”.