A NUMBER of changes have been implemented at Poole Hospital following the death of a one-week old baby.

As reported, the mother of Brandon-Robert William Collins-Hayward, from Poole, said she had concerns after a maternity support worker asked her what she expects when her son stopped feeding as much.

Brandon-Robert, who was born on May 29, died of E. coli sepsis on June 7.

The full inquest into his death was held at Bournemouth Town Hall, where coroner Rachael Griffin said he died of natural causes.

On June 3, mum Ella Hayward, who was 19 at the time, noticed her son wasn’t feeding as much, going from four ounces every three hours down to two.

She also noticed him shivering and said he would grumble when he was awake.

She told the court she asked maternity support worker Karen Bale about this, and she replied: “He’s no longer feeding off you, what do you expect?”.

Giving evidence, Ms Bale said her visit was a routine one and didn’t recall there being any concerns expressed by Ms Hayward at the time.

She explained to the coroner that had there been any concerns she would have escalated these to a midwife.

And following the conclusion of the inquest, Dr Alyson O’Donnell, chief medical officer at the University Hospitals Dorset, said a number of changes had been made at Poole.

Dr O’Donnell said: “On behalf of University Hospitals Dorset, I wish to say that our thoughts are with Brandon-Robert’s family.

“We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to them.

“Care was delivered in line with national guidelines, but since the tragic death of Brandon-Robert, Poole Hospital have implemented a number of changes to provide additional safeguards including that when a mother suffers an infection or suspected sepsis in the neonatal period, their baby is also assessed.

“Furthermore, mother and baby observations are taken at each home visit up to days 10 post-delivery by midwives and maternity support workers.”