00:00Poppy Hope Lomas was only seven days old when she died on the 26th of October 2022, following complications during
00:09a quote-unquote high-risk home birth her mother said she was encouraged to have.
00:16Midwife Sasha Field, who was present at Poppy's birth, said in her written statement, which was read out to the
00:22inquest by senior coroner Andrew Walker, that an ambulance should have been called around 90 minutes before Poppy was born
00:31when she heard the baby's heart rate slow down after a contraction, as a report by the Health Care Safety
00:39Investigation Branch had found.
00:41In fact, midwives told Jason Lomas, Poppy's father, only to call an ambulance at around 10.37pm, two minutes after
00:52she was born, by which time it was clear she was showing no signs of life, according to Miss Field
01:00as read in her statement.
01:01Mr Walker suggested to Miss Field that Miss Lomas should never have been made to deliver her baby at home.
01:08On Monday, Miss Lomas told the inquest that Alice Boardman, who was head midwife at Edgeware Midwives, the designated home
01:18birth team at Barnet Hospital, and also present at the birth, actively encouraged her to have what is known as
01:25a vaginal birth after caesarean at home.
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