Catalogue of errors leads to midwife being banned

Probe by NHS Tayside resulted in sacking

A Tayside midwife is likely to be banned from the profession for committing more than 50 errors in the space of just three months.

Louise Kennedy faked records and failed to follow correct procedures, including failing to get permission before carrying out intimate examinations of women.

She also sent a mother back to the antenatal ward as she went into labour.

She claimed to have discharged the grieving mother of a stillborn child who had, in fact, left Ninewells Hospital without her knowledge.

In all Kennedy, a registered midwife for more than a decade, either admitted or was found to have committed 57 misdemeanours against four pregnant women.

The charges, from June to September 2016, were set against her at a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) tribunal over the course of seven months.

The panel heard Kennedy had been employed by NHS Tayside since 2011, initially as a temporary member of staff, before being hired on a permanent basis in 2012.

Her misconduct began in June 2016 when she falsified records and failed to flag up changes in a patient’s condition, to senior staff.

On September 10 and 11, when a Bulgarian woman in her care – who spoke no English – gave birth to a stillborn baby, Kennedy failed to seek a translator for her, failed to properly log the incident and falsely claimed to have discharged the woman, who had in fact left of her own accord two hours earlier.

NHS Tayside carried out an investigation and sacked Kennedy in February 2017.

Reviewing evidence from Kennedy, witnesses and paperwork relating to the patients, the NMC panel found the midwife had shown “limited insight” into the impact of her actions, adding: “Your conduct was a significant departure from the standards expected of a registered midwife.”

She has 90 days to appeal the ruling.

Your conduct was a significant departure from the standards expected of a registered midwife. NMC PANEL

Ninewells Hospital, Dundee.