THE family of a young Wirral woman who died at Arrowe Park Hospital after going into premature labour say questions still remain unanswered over her death.

Carly Harper, of Orrysdale Road, West Kirby, died in May 2012 after being admitted to 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 at the end of a two-day inquest into her death, Coroner David Lewis said he felt the hospital staff who treated Carly did all they could.

Recording a narrative verdict of multiple organ failure, caused by septicaemia which arose from chorioamnionitis - inflammation of the fetal membranes - Mr Lewis said: "Despite the timely administration of suitable antibiotics and the subsequent delivery of the infected fetus at 9.28pm, Carly did not respond as expected to the treatment she received.

"Her condition continued to deteriorate throughout the night and at 9.10am on May 20, she died."

Commenting on the hospital's own investigation into the events leading up to and surrounding Carly's death, Mr Lewis added: "We are now two and a half years on from these tragic events and I have heard that other patients in a not dissimilar way have been at the hospital since then and thankfully there has been a happier outcome for those patients and their families."

He said he was satisfied "lessons that needed to be learned have been learned" and "sufficient steps have been taken to address the concerns that came to light".

Mr Lewis said he was satisfied with the trust's own report and investigation and did not feel there was a need to call for another.

He offered his condolences to Carly's family who have sat in court throughout the hearing and apologised for the delay in the conclusion of proceedings.

Over the course of the hearing, the coroner heard evidence from 25 medical professionals involved in the case.

Each of them told of their surprise at the rapid deterioration of Carly's condition.

Speaking on the first day of the inquest, the coroner 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."

Consultants and other members of the medical team also expressed this view and said even if there had not been delays in treatment, things would still have ended in the same way.

Carly's parents Robert and Christine Harper from Heswall remain convinced their daughter - described as being "full of life" - could have been saved.

Speaking at the end of the inquest, Mr Harper said: "We are extremely disappointed at the sad loss of our daughter.

"It still feels that questions remain unanswered and that things could have been expedited quicker and more thoroughly.

"Two and a half years down the road we've had a verdict which we were expecting and the coroner gave a very balanced view which I thank him for and now we try to move on as a family.

"No verdict or anything like that will ever replace the person we have lost and that's something we are going to have to live with for the rest of our lives."

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.

Giving evidence in court on Wednesday morning, Mrs Harper said what "should have been a joyous occasion became a nightmare"

A spokesman for Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said: "We would again like to express our sincere condolences to Carly’s family and are very sorry for their loss.

“This has been a tragic case and has involved a thorough investigation with the multidisciplinary team and various medical experts. Our investigations concluded that, while it cannot be said that Carly’s death could have been prevented, there were clear lessons to be learnt from her care.

"We have reached a financial settlement with the family in recognition of this and have made a number of changes to trust practice and procedures in response to the findings of the investigation to further improve the services we provide. 

“The trust fully accepts the Coroner’s findings, which acknowledge Carly’s rapid deterioration despite the timely administration of antibiotics and the involvement of experienced staff in her care.”