Health New Zealand has been criticised for system failures related to a still-birth in Auckland's Waitakere Hospital

The woman who was in early labour had reported the baby's movement had decreased.

Her husband tried to reach the midwife on a bedside phone - which had accidentally been switched to block caller mode.

The Deputy Health and Disability Commissioner points out because of the consultant obstetrician's workload - the fetal heart rate wasn't monitored as required.

Rose Wall recommends deactivating the call block function on all phones - and the hospital update its policy on the threshold for calling an on-call obstetrician.