A hospital will finally apologise to grieving parents after admitting failures which led to the death of their first born baby.

Katie Fowler and Rob Miller have been fighting for answers since their daughter Abigail died on January 23 last year, just two days after she was born.

Growing concerns for Ms Fowler’s welfare when she went into labour on January 21 were ignored by staff at the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

The couple took matters into their own hands and went to the hospital by taxi. By then, Ms Fowler had collapsed and was resuscitated in a waiting room while Abigail was born via caesarean section and also needed resuscitating. She died two days later of multiple organ failure.

An inquest found her life could have been significantly prolonged if the medical staff had acted sooner by asking Ms Fowler to come to hospital.

Now, almost two years on, the chief nurse at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, Dr Maggie Davies, said she hopes to meet with Ms Fowler and Mr Miller to apologise.

Dr Davies said: "I have spoken directly with Abigail's parents, and I know this has been absolutely heartbreaking for them and their wider families.

“Their care should have been better and I sincerely hope to meet them soon, so I can express in person our apologies and regret for what they have been through.

“We should, and must, be open to hearing directly from families and learning every possible lesson from their experiences. This is the only way we can improve and ensure families in our care are as safe as they can be."

Ms Fowler said that UH Sussex has apologised for the pain the couple have been through but not for their short fallings.

"We are grateful to have received an invitation from Dr Maggie Davies to meet with us following the conclusion of Abigail's inquest last week," said Ms Fowler.

READ MORE: Couple demand national maternity inquiry after Sussex baby death

"It is regrettable that this meeting wasn't offered to us sooner, but we welcome the opportunity to share our experience and the ways we feel the hospital could better respond to parents in the future.

"We understand actions to improve some services such as maternity assessment unit telephone triage have been made and look forward to discussing how this will be monitored and audited to ensure an improved standard of care is maintained.

"We also hope to discuss the similarities in our aftercare to those of parents in East Kent, Nottingham and other parts of the country where public inquiries into maternity services have identified failings."