The coroner’s findings into the death of Steve Bruce’s four-month-old grandson, Madison Bruce-Smith, are prompting a coroner to call for urgent national action to tackle the unregulated “maternity services” industry and unqualified “maternity nurses.” An inquest on Monday heard that the baby died after being placed face down in a cot on the advice of an “obstetric nurse” who had no formal medical qualifications, but did not follow national guidelines set by the court that babies should sleep on their backs.
Matt Smith, Maddison’s father and husband to Bruce’s daughter Amy, found Maddison “unresponsive” at his home in Bowdon, Co Trafford, on October 18, 2024. Smith himself was a former footballer, representing several Championship clubs before retiring two months before his daughter’s death.
Coroner Ms Mucci said: “While there is clearly a demand for these services from parents who want some support, the fact is that anyone employing these services is employing people with little experience or qualifications. The unregulated advice given by maternity nurses and maternity services is putting children at risk.”
The Manchester Evening News reported that she recorded a judgment in which she accepted that Maddison’s sleeping position was “prone and dangerous”. Ms Mucci has also submitted a report to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (now Wes Streeting) to prevent future deaths, calling for regulation of maternity nurses and maternity services companies.
The Smiths described Madison as a “precious, perfect boy.” The couple added: “Losing Madison is absolutely unbearable. Our entire family is completely shattered. We will never forgive ourselves for agreeing to sleep on our stomachs. We trusted and believed in Eva Clements’ experience. She recommended it and we trusted her.”
In a statement, the Smiths said: “The sleep nanny and maternity practitioner industry is completely unregulated. Anyone can call themselves a sleep nurse or maternity nanny without the need for qualifications, accredited training, safeguarding checks or professional supervision.”
“There is no regulatory framework, no mandatory standards, no mechanisms to ensure competency or prevent dangerous individuals from interacting with newborns. Parents are easily misled by hints of professionalism.
“We believed that Ruth Asare’s services were structured, vetted, and supervised. We believed that Eva Clements was trained, competent, and operating within a regulated system. None of these assumptions were true.”
They added: “Without regulation, things like this will happen again. Other parents will do what we did and put their trust in individuals who should never be responsible for the care of their infants.”
