A SENIOR doctor involved in the treatment of a young Wirral woman who died after going into premature labour has told an inquest medical staff "did the best they could" but things deteriorated faster than anyone could have expected.

Carly Harper, of Orrysdale Road, West Kirby, died in May 2012 after being admitted to Arrowe Park Hospital three days earlier when her waters broke when she was almost 24 weeks' pregnant.

The 26-year-old hairdresser was expecting her first child with boyfriend Alex Dearden when she developed severe sepsis and the decision was taken to deliver the baby, resulting in a miscarriage.

Carly was taken immediately to the operating theatre and then to critical care, where she died on the morning of May 20 after suffering multiple organ failure.

Speaking on the first day of a resumed inquest into Carly's death, coroner David Lewis said a Serious Incident Review Report into the events surrounding the death, criticised the response of staff between 13.45pm and 16.05pm the day before her death and said the team "did not recognise the critical urgency of the situation" early enough.

But Dr Kubwalo, registrar on call on the day before Carly's death, said: "Having gone through experiences by that time I was a reasonably experienced obstetrician but this sort of highlighted a lot of things we didn't expect which may have, in a sense, seemed like people didn't know what they were doing.

"People were doing the best they could but things were deteriorating faster than most of us had experienced up to then.

"Since then we have learned and it has changed quite a lot of things."

Consultant Ash Alam said he too had never experienced such a rapid deterioration as Carly's. 

He said had he and Dr Kunwalo seen indications of infection earlier things may have been done differently. 

He added: "I think there was an under appreciation of how ill Carly was. I think it was very difficult for the team on the labour ward that day to realise that Carly was severely ill."

Carly's parents Robert and Christine Harper, from Heswall, believe delays in decision making and treatment by Arrowe Park Hospital staff treating her led to her death.

In reaching a five-figure settlement with Mr and Mrs Harper, the Trust admitted that “there was a delay in delivering the deceased's foetus and in administering the second antibiotic as per Trust policy.”

However, they did not accept that their failings contributed to Carly’s death.

Specialist Clinical Negligence solicitor James Thompson of Simpson Millar solicitors, who is acting on behalf of Carly’s father against Wirral University Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: "It is Mr and Mrs Harper’s firm belief that Carly died as a consequence of negligent medical treatment: there was a failure to recognise, manage and diagnose severe sepsis.

“Although it was apparent that the doctors and nurses were faced with a busy maternity ward that day, they did not know how to prioritise the patients and there was little involvement from the consultant until it was too late."

Giving evidence in court on Wednesday morning, Carly's mother Christine described her daughter as being "full of life" and said what "should have been a joyous occasion became a nightmare".

In a statement, Robert Harper said: “When Carly began feeling unwell we became extremely worried. The evening of 19 May, Christine stayed with her in hospital and I went home.

"She called me later on to say that it wasn’t looking good but told me to stay at home. At 1.30am that night, she called again and said ‘you better get here fast’. “When I saw Carly in the ICU my first words were ‘my god, what have they done to her.’ I just couldn’t understand what had happened.

"I phoned Carly’s sister, Kimberley and she brought her brother Tommy down to the hospital straight away. Matthew was away training with the army and he didn’t make it in time.”

The inquest continues.