The boss of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has stepped down days before a review into the regulator's handling of the Morecambe Bay scandal is due to be published.

Jackie Smith has announced her intention to stand down from her £190,000-a-year role as chief executive and registrar of the NMC.

A review into the NMC's handling of Morecambe Bay midwife cases is due to be published later this week.

The organisation is expected to be heavily criticised for its part in the scandal at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay, in Cumbria, where at least 11 babies and one mother died.

The boss of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has stepped down days before a review into the regulator's handling of the Morecambe Bay scandal is due to be published

Jackie Smith has announced her intention to stand down from her role as chief executive and registrar of the NMC

A 2015 inquiry found a 'lethal mix' of failures at the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust led to the unnecessary deaths between 2004 and 2013.

The deaths were blamed on a ‘dysfunctional culture’ among a gang of midwives who resented doctors.

Yet the NMC took years to deal with the scandal. Three of the midwives were eventually struck off, in 2015 and 2017, and another suspended.

Miss Smith has also been criticised over her organisation’s spending of £240,000 in legal costs to cover-up a dossier related to the scandal.

The NMC had been secretly monitoring the actions of bereaved father and patient safety campaigner James Titcombe, whose son Joshua died at the hospital in 2008.

But when Mr Titcombe attempted to obtain the dossier under Data Protection Act he was sent heavily redacted documents.

He later discovered the NMC had hired law firm Fieldfisher LLP to help protect its reputation.

A report on the NMC’s actions will be published by the Professional Standards Authority, which regulates health and social care watchdogs.

Miss Smith, who has been in her post for six years, will be in line for a £600,000 pension pot, including a lump sum of £15,000 and annual payments of £20,000.

A 2015 inquiry found a 'lethal mix' of failures at the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust led to the unnecessary deaths of 11 babies and one mother between 2004 and 2013

She said yesterday: 'It's been an honour to lead the NMC over the past six years and I am immensely proud of everything we have achieved. Now is the right time for someone else to take the organisation forward.

'I want to pay tribute to the staff at the NMC who have worked so hard and achieved so much during my time here.

'I'd also like to thank the nurses and midwives on our register - it's been a privilege to work with them and witness the fantastic care they deliver day in day out.'

Mr Titcombe said: ‘In the nine years since Joshua’s death I’ve experienced the NMC as a highly defensive organisation.

‘The NMC have badly failed in their handling of fitness to practice cases at Morecambe Bay, which in my view has put lives at risk.’

He wrote on Twitter that it was 'disgraceful that the resignation isn't with immediate effect'.

Adding: 'Jackie has overseen a dire culture at the NMC that has caused considerable distress.'