Hospital taped dummy to baby - The Times (subscription)

Police have launched a criminal inquiry after a four-month-old baby boy was found with a dummy taped to his face at a scandal-hit hospital.

Mason Fellows, who was born 10 weeks prematurely weighing just 2lbs,was rushed to Stafford hospital after suffering from breathing difficulties. As he recovered in hospital, a nurse discovered that a dummy had been lodged inside his mouth with tape, apparently to stop him crying.

Last night his grandmother Diane Denning, 69, from Cannock in Staffordshire, said: "I am furious. How can a human being do this to an innocent, defenceless baby? To my mind, this is nothing less than torture.

"I might have had a stroke and be bed bound but if I ever get my hands on the person who did this to Mason they will wish they were never born.

"It's just terrible, I'm appalled. It does nothing to improve the reputation of this hospital any good at all."

Mason and his twin Reece were born at Walsall Manor Hospital last September before being moved to Birmingham Children's Hospital suffering from chest infections and breathing problems. They were allowed home in December but Mason was rushed to Stafford hospital soon after suffering from breathing problems.

Mum Sarah Fellows, 28, a trainee nurse, found police and nurses surrounding his cot when she arrived to take up her bedside vigil one day earlier this month.

Yesterday Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, which is at the centre of a public inquiry into serious failings of care, apologised for the incident and said that a member of staff has been suspended. The trust said the baby was unharmed in the incident.

Colin Ovington, director of nursing and midwifery at the trust, said: "We have a zero tolerance approach to poor patient care and we take immediate, appropriate action as soon as we know about any potential serious incidents which happen in our hospitals.

"We are proud that our staff now feel confident to report any incidents which happen. We will continue to encourage staff to do this and will continue to report incidents, even before they have been fully investigated, despite any negative attention this may create.

"We cannot emphasise strongly enough that this incident is exceptional and apologise again to the family. We want other hospitals to learn from this incident so that we can be sure that it does not happen to any other baby."

A spokesman for Staffordshire Police said: "Officers from our Protecting Vulnerable People Department are at the very early stages of investigating a complaint concerning the treatment of a baby boy by a member of staff at Stafford Hospital earlier this month.

"The baby boy, who was four months old at the time, was not harmed as a result. We are liaising closely with his family and the NHS Trust concerning the matter."

The report from the public inquiry into failings at the trust will be published on February 6. Chairman Robert Francis is expected to recommend wide-ranging reforms of the NHS to prevent a repeat of the scandal at Mid-Staffs, where as many as 1,200 patients are believed to have died as result of poor care and neglect in the three years to 2008.

The scandal was compounded by attempts by senior management to cover up their hospital's failings.

Separately, a recent report by the health watchdog Monitor concluded that Mid Staffs is "financially and clinically unsustainable".

Cure the NHS, which has campaigned for better standards of care at the hospital, said members of the group were distressed to hear of the latest incident. Ken Lownds, a spokesman for the campaign group, said: "It demonstrates that the hospital is still not safe. It's just staggering that we are still hearing of such awful cases."