A coroner has called for urgent action over unregulated maternity services after the tragic death of Steve Bruce’s four-month old grandson in October 2024
A coroner has issued an urgent call for national action concerning the unregulated ‘maternity services’ industry and ‘maternity nurses’ lacking formal qualifications, following the death of Manchester United legend Steve Bruce’s grandson.
Madison Bruce-Smith tragically passed away after being put to bed on his stomach at night, contrary to national guidelines, based on the advice of a woman claiming to be a ‘maternity nurse’, despite having no official medical qualifications, an inquest heard on Monday. The infant was just four months old.
Madison was found ‘unresponsive’ at 7am at the family residence in Bowdon, Trafford, on October 18, 2024, by his father, ex-Leeds United forward Matt Smith, who is married to Bruce’s daughter Amy.
Coroner Ms Mutch said she would be issuing a prevention of future deaths report to the health secretary calling for the regulation of maternity nurses and maternity services companies.
The Manchester Evening News reports that she recorded a narrative verdict, noting he was placed in a ‘prone and unsafe’ sleeping position.Ms Mutch said: “The demand for these services from parents hoping to have some support is clearly there, but in effect, anyone who is employing them is employing somebody who may have little experience or qualifications.
“The unregulated advice given by maternity nurses and maternity services puts children at risk.”
In a statement, Mr and Mrs Smith said: “The sleep nanny and maternity practitioner industry is entirely unregulated. Anyone can call themselves a sleep nurse or a maternity nanny without any requirement for qualification, accredited training, safeguarding checks or professional oversight. There is no regulatory framework, no compulsory standard, and no mechanism to ensure competence or prevent unsafe individuals from working with newborn babies. Parents are easily misled by language that implies professionalism.
“We believed Ruth Asare’s service was structured, vetted and supervised. We believed Eva Clements was trained, competent and operating within a regulated system. None of those assumptions were true.” “Without regulation this will happen again,” they added. “Other parents, just as we did, will place trust in individuals who should never be responsible for the care of infants.”
Police evidence revealed that Ms Clements was arrested on suspicion of neglect at the time, but the ‘criminal threshold’ was not deemed to have been met after consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service.
A senior detective stated it wasn’t illegal to place a child on their front and it couldn’t be determined if Ms Clements ‘wilfully set out to deliberately harm’ Madison.
The court was informed that UK medical guidelines, which have been in place for over 25 years, advise that babies should sleep on their backs.
The inquest heard that Ms Clements had no formal nursing or midwifery training – and she told Madison’s parents that she put all her four children to sleep on their fronts.
The court learned that the couple ‘expressed concern’ about Madison being on his front, but she advised them to ‘best leave him’.
Ms Clements claimed she attended a day-long course with a company named Ruthie Maternity Services, run by Ruth Asare. In her testimony, Ms Asare referred to herself as a ‘post-natal carer’, but police noted the website mentioned ‘maternity nurses’.
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