A hospital has admitted fault after heartbroken parents of a baby girl who died are called for maternity services to be improved.

Venisha Mehta gave birth to her daughter Ayana at Barnet Hospital at 5.18am on January 13, 2015, but as her due date was not until late March, she weighed only 2lbs 7oz.

She sadly died after just five hours despite efforts to resuscitate her, and a post mortem showed her death was caused by septicaemia from probable ascending infection.

The hospital has since admitted fault after an internal investigation showed there was no midwife allocated to Ms Mehta to provide one on one care between 1am and 4.55am, and had Ayana been delivered earlier, she may have survived.

Ms Mehta, 32, said: "Losing Ayana has been the hardest thing I have had to face in my life. Throughout my pregnancies I have always been fearful and worried, but you put your trust and faith in the medical staff to look after you.

"We will be forever devastated by what has happened and losing Ayana.

"We hope by the trust admitting its failures in this case, and by us speaking out about our experiences, we can prevent another family having to endure the pain we have had to."

She added that she and her husband, Atish felt "completely let down" by the treatment she received, especially as she had experienced two miscarriages previously to her pregnancy, which were not identified as a risk factor.

Ms Mehta also had a weak cervix, which added to the dangers in delivery, which was also not properly investigated and the parents had to have this seen to privately due to the appropriate management plan not being carried out.

A spokesman from Royal Free NHS Foundation Trust said: "We are truly sorry for the family’s loss. The trust has conducted a full investigation into Ayana’s death and established that there were failings in the care we provided which led to this tragic outcome.

"We have implemented the recommendations arising from our investigation in order to prevent such an outcome happening again in the future.

"We have admitted liability for these failings and NHS Resolution is now working on our behalf to agree the appropriate level of compensation with the family."