THREE babies have died at Worcestershire Royal Hospital within two weeks.

The Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust has now launched a probe into the deaths after a complaint from a Kidderminster woman.

When Kelly Hart, aged 22, arrived in labour at the maternity unit in the early hours of the morning, her unborn son was alive - but three hours later he was dead.

After an agonising 12 hours she delivered Kaydon, who weighed 6Ib 14oz, stillborn.

She and her husband Mark have accused the hospital of failing to adequately monitor her labour and were shocked to learn two other babies had also died this month.

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

Her mother Susan, who was with her throughout her labour, said Kelly, of Ray Mercer Close, had been left for 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 if Kelly should be checked again 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 Hospital's maternity unit was closed in September 2003 because of baby deaths.

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

The results of the inquiry would be explained to Kelly

in the near future, he added.

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

He stressed the perinatal death rate at the hospital was below the national average.

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

Meanwhile, Kelly's baby is undergoing a post-mortem.