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A mother whose baby died at the maternity unit of a leading London hospital claims not enough was done to save her child.
Katie Hammond says "overworked" staff at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital failed to act quickly when her newborn girl India became ill and stopped breathing.
A spiralling birth rate left the unit so busy it was forced to turn away hundreds of women in 2004 and 2005.
Ms Hammond, 38, who gave birth in November 2005, said she had felt "neglected" by midwives who left her alone despite her fears about the health of her daughter.
Director of midwifery at the time, Margaret Elliott, admitted that the unit had been "extremely busy and stressful" and that a cap was put on the number of births because "the situation was becoming unsafe". Her comments came after a misconduct hearing this week, over midwife Mukozoke Ferguson who is accused of incompetence after one baby in his care died and another had to be resuscitated.
But she denied that conditions would have prevented Mr Ferguson, 53, calling for help when dealing with the two babies. Ms Hammond, from Putney, said staff were under great pressure and appeared to be "irritated" by her and husband Tim Waters, 40. After a normal birth, Ms Hammond became worried that India appeared sluggish and unresponsive.
She said she was unable to attract help as she had been left alone. Her husband, an oil analyst, managed to find a student midwife but she had to attend to another job.
When she came back, it was clear the baby was in trouble and emergency resuscitation procedures were begun. India, the couple's first child, died after four days in intensive care.
Ms Hammond, a complementary therapist, said: "India stopped breathing and they did not notice. There was not enough staff and they were too busy to give the care needed. You want to feel you are being correctly cared for and I did not feel that at all. As a first-time mother going through birthing procedures it is a scary time and I did not feel supported. The care was not consistent enough."
Ms Hammond said she had asked for an epidural but there were no staff to help; the birthing pool had no thermometer and was later found to be cold and staff had not told them how to call for assistance in an emergency.
India was born weighing 2.99kilograms, under the 3kilogram limit which automatically requires extra attention, but she was not checked thoroughly enough. Ms Hammond said: "What we were promised, in terms of care, was definitely not delivered."
The medical cause of death was severe encephalopathy, or brain disorder. But no reason for her condition could be established and it was not possible to make a clear, causal link between her care and the death. A verdict of unknown natural causes was recorded by Fulham coroner Alison Thompson in February 2007.
The coroner wrote a letter to Derek Smith, then chief executive of Hammersmith Hospitals Trust, stressing her concerns about the unit's staffing levels: "The staff had been under pressure that night, with the student out of her depth. There seemed to be a presumption nothing would go wrong and no one took the initiative to check the baby."
The couple have since had another baby, 18-month-old Gryff, who was born at Chelsea and Westminster hospital. Her evidence is not part of the hearing but will raise further concerns about the trust.
Mr Ferguson, of Northolt, a registered nurse who qualified as a midwife in 2001, has admitted a lack of competence in his midwifery but not in his practice as a trained nurse.
The hearing continues.
