A damning report into one of the NHS ’ s worst scandals is today expected to reveal up to ten missed opportunities to intervene to prevent poor care . The independent inquiry will be highly critical of how , despite a string of baby deaths , watchdogs gave an NHS trust the all clear only one month before the last general election . Today ’ s report is expected to conclude that between 2004 and 2011 there were a series of missed chances to step in at every level , from the hospital to the Department of Health . Tragedy : Joshua Titcombe was nine days old when he died from an infection that should have been treated with antibiotics at Furness General Hospital , Cumbria . Up to 30 babies and mothers are thought to have died because of failings by midwives and doctors at Furness General Hospital in Barrow . Investigators are thought to have examined around 50 cases where poor maternity care has been alleged . The findings will again put Labour in the dock over its stewardship of the health service , revealing appalling care over years under the last government . The official report into care at the unit , run by University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust , will paint a damning picture of what went wrong , with echoes of the Mid Staffs hospital scandal , according to Whitehall sources . Former Labour health secretary Andy Burnham was informed about concerns over maternity care at Morecambe Bay in January 2010 . Up to 30 babies and mothers died at Furness General Hospital because of failings by midwives and doctors , a damning report is expected to reveal . Locally , the alarm was first raised in 2008 when nine-day-old Joshua Titcombe died on a ward at Furness . An inquest heard midwives and medical staff made ten serious errors that contributed to Joshua ’ s death , including a failure to detect and monitor an infection . His parents repeatedly asked if he should have antibiotics and complained he was wheezing and not feeding properly . He eventually died from blood poisoning . Medical charts subsequently went missing and the coroner raised suspicions that they may have been deliberately destroyed . Health officials tried to cover up their failure to investigate poor patient care , it is claimed . Mr Burnham , now Labour ’ s shadow health secretary , has repeatedly denied being made aware of ‘ specific warnings ’ about the hospital or putting any pressure on the Care Quality Commission to tone down criticism of the NHS ahead of the 2010 election . Grief : James and Hoa Titcombe lost their baby son Joshua in 2008 . But David Morris , Conservative MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale , said he was ‘ surprised and disappointed ’ that Mr Burnham had not been interviewed by the inquiry , chaired by Dr Bill Kirkup , a former Department of Health associate medical director who also served on an investigation into Hillsborough . ‘ It ’ s hard to understand why the inquiry hasn ’ t listened to parents who wanted Andy Burnham to be questioned , ’ Mr Morris said . ‘ They should disclose the reasons why they decided not to call him. ’ Joshua ’ s father James Titcombe , who was appointed to the CQC in 2013 to try to prevent a repeat of such tragedies , is also understood to have protested . In an email to Dr Kirkup , seen by the Daily Mail , Mr Titcombe wrote : ‘ I do want to put on record that I am very surprised and disappointed that the investigation hasn ’ t interviewed Andy Burnham . I have… raised with you on many occasions , the evidence from people who were working in the system at the time that there was a culture of “ no bad news ” . ‘ I am sure that your investigation must have uncovered issues relating to some of the external , system and national policy issues that impacted on the way people were behaving at the time. ’ Victims ’ families reacted with anger when Mr Burnham tried to arrange a meeting ahead of today ’ s findings . Carl Hendrickson , whose wife and newborn son died , said : ‘ None of us were interested . Andy Burnham has hidden under a stone for six years . When Labour said they were weaponising the NHS for the election , it made me want to vomit. ’ A spokesman for Mr Burnham said he ‘ acted entirely properly ’ at all times in relation to Morecambe Bay . He had volunteered to campaigners the fact that information on maternity care at the trust had been included in an annexe to a wider briefing on issues that might be raised in a meeting with a local MP in 2010 . A Labour Party spokesman said : ‘ The report will dismiss these political allegations and confirm that no Labour health secretary was briefed on Morecambe Bay . It will instead say that the terrible failings , which span this Government and the last one , were very localised. ’ An inquiry spokesman said it ‘ found no evidence that would have required an interview ’ of Mr Burnham .
Up to 30 babies and mothers died at Furness . Concerns first raised in 2008 when Joshua Titcombe died of infection . Baby should have been treated with antibiotics at hospital in Cumbria . New inquiry will conclude that neglect contributed to even more deaths .