THREE babies have died at Worcestershire Royal Hospital within two weeks - at least one of which came from Wyre Forest.

When Kidderminster mum-to-be Kelly Hart arrived in labour at the maternity unit int he early hours of the morning her unborn son was alive - three hours later he was dead.

After a further agonising 12 hours, the 22-year-old endured the trauma of delivering Kaydon, who weighed 6lb 14oz, stillborn.

she and her distraught partner Mark Garfitt, have been staying at her mother Susan Hart's home in Silver Street, Kidderminster, since their ordeal nine days ago.

Kelly broke down in tears at the sight of the empty nursery when she finally visited her home on Tuesday.

She and Mark, a 24-year-old factory worker, have accused the hospital of failing to adequately monitor her labour and were shocked to learn that two other babies had also died this month.

Hospital chiefs have launched a review into Kelly's case and an audit into the number of perinatal deaths.

Susan, who was with her daughter throughout her labour, which was just a week early, said Kelly had been left for about two-and-a-half hours without any monitoring following the initial examination on arriving at the maternity unit.

It was only after she became concerned and asked that Kelly should be checked again and be given some pain relief that the midwife was unable to detect the baby's heartbeat.

Susan said: "What on earth is going on? How can a hospital lose three babies in that time. Kidderminster's maternity unit was closed because of baby deaths bu Worcester seems to have a worse record."

Hospital trust executive, John Rostill, expressed his sincere condolences to the family and said a full review into what happened was being carried out.

The results would be fully shared with and explained to Kelly in person in the near future, he added.

"Unfortunately, childbirth can never be a completely risk-free process, either for the mother or the baby - and sometimes despite the best efforts of the doctors adn midwives involved, a baby will not survive," he said.

He reiterated that the perinatal death rate at Worcestershire Royal Hospital was below the regional average.

Mr Rostill said he could not comment on the other two baby deaths because of patient confidentiality but stressed that the audit would look at whether avoidable factors had occurred either in terms of peole's behaviour during pregnancy or hospital procedures.

"We should not assume that anybody is at fault, but if we find that somebody or a procedure is at fault it will be rectified," he added.

Wyre Forest MP Dr Richard Taylor, who campaigned against the downgrading of Kidderminster Hospital, said: "I am very concerned about teh reports that I have had and I am looking into them before making any further comment."

Meanwhile, Kelly's baby is undergoing a post mortem examination to establish the cause of death.