UK Covid inquiry: NHS staff kept mother with Covid apart from dying newborn son, inquiry told

Catherine Todd with her partner TJ and their son Ziggy.

Medical staff kept a mother with Covid in the dark about her dying son’s condition to spend less time near her, the inquiry into the pandemic has heard.

Catherine Todd said that doctors did not “come in and out of the room as much as they would have if I wasn’t Covid-positive”.

Her newborn son Ziggy died hours after he was born at Ulster Hospital on July 21, 2021.

Todd gave evidence to the Covid Inquiry’s third module investigating the impact of the pandemic on healthcare systems across the UK, and revealed that she had to wear PPE as Ziggy died in her arms.

Describing her story, representing the Northern Ireland Covid Bereaved Families for Justice group, Todd said she was nearly 28 weeks pregnant when she contracted the respiratory virus.

She said this led to the cancellation of a routine pregnancy scan and she later began to feel unwell and was concerned that her unborn baby was not moving.

Todd said she called the hospital maternity unit several times and was told to take paracetamol, lie on her side and take a fizzy drink.

“They told me they wouldn’t bring me in at the time because they wanted to reduce the risk of spread of Covid‚” she told the inquiry.

Todd said she believed she would have been seen earlier if she had not had Covid.

After her condition worsened she phoned her GP who told her to attend the hospital’s accident and emergency department.

She said that after waiting in A&E for 10 hours she was moved to the maternity section and an emergency section was carried out amid concerns about a lack of amniotic fluid around the baby.

Her partner TJ was not allowed to visit her and when her son Ziggy was born he was taken to the neonatal intensive care unit and placed in an incubator overnight.

Catherine Todd and TJ at Ziggy’s grave side.

Nick Scott, counsel to the inquiry, asked: “Do you think the fact that you were Covid-positive had anything to do with the amount of information you were given about Ziggy’s condition overnight?”

She said: “Yes, I think they were trying not to come in and out of the room as much as they would have if I wasn’t Covid-positive.”

Todd said she and her partner were brought to see Ziggy the following morning, believing that his condition was improving.

She said: “They took everything off and handed Ziggy over to me and then they just left the room and then he passed away and they didn’t come back for about two hours.”

Asked if it was the first time she had been with Ziggy since he was born, she replied: “Yes.”

Asked if she had to wear full PPE when she was with him, she added: “Yes. We had hairnets, masks, a visor, gloves and shoe coverings.

“I thought that was unnecessary. At the time they knew how unwell he was. I am a bit confused why we were in full PPE.”

Asked about the impact of having to wear the protective gear, Todd said: “All of our photos we have with him are in full PPE.”

Following Ziggy’s death, his body was taken to a hospital in Liverpool for a post-mortem examination.

Todd said that for two days before Ziggy’s body arrived at Alder Hey Hospital, she did not know where his remains were.

In hindsight she did not believe there were enough staff to treat her and she did not think they knew how to treat a pregnant woman with Covid.

Asked if she felt safe as a pregnant woman in Northern Ireland, she said: “Not at all, no.”

Referring to the fact that Todd is pregnant again, the barrister asked her if she felt safer now.

She replied: “No.”

The inquiry continues.