‘Aromatherapy’ birth botched by midwives

A MIDWIFE delayed the transfer of a pregnant woman to hospital because she was due to have an aromatherapy session.

The woman was sleepy and her unborn baby’s heart rate was dropping but Janice Dalrymple failed to call an ambulance.

Instead, she waited an hour for a midwife trained in aromatherapy to arrive at the Community Maternity Unit at the Vale of Leven Hospital in Alexandria, Dunbartonshire.

The mother-to-be was eventually taken to the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, where she underwent an emergency section.

Her daughter had to be resuscitated, suffering brain damage and multiple organ failure.

According to a report by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), Mrs Dalrymple, 63, received a final written warning from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde following an investigation.

The incident, in October 2013, also resulted in a final written warning to the midwife who provided the aromatherapy, 61-year-old Fiona McClung.

Midwife Pamela Campbell, 49, received a final written warning for failing ‘to investigate why there was no progress of labour despite several opportunities’.

All three faced an NMC hearing last week in Edinburgh. But despite the findings of fault and disciplinary action taken by the health board, the NMC decided the trio had no case to answer.

It found there was little prospect of the midwives’ fitness to practise being impaired because they had apologised and undertaken extra training.

The NMC said the midwives had previously unblemished records and concluded that ‘the public interest would not be served by a finding of impairment in your case’.

The NMC said its decision on Mrs Dalrymple, who has since retired, was because she had shown ‘clear recognition and admission of wrongdoing’ and had directly apologised to the mother.

The report said it could not be established one way or the other if the delay contributed to the baby’s condition.

The mother, who has not been identified, complained to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

In a report published last year, which did not name the midwives, the ombudsman concluded that aromatherapy was inappropriate in the case.

A spokesman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: ‘The local actions that were taken have given both us and the NMC the reassurance that the safety of women and babies is not in question and that these midwives are fit to practise.’

‘Safety is not in question’