Bassetlaw midwife struck off

Jill Ashmore tried to persuade a student to keep quiet about the mistake after an inquiry began at the hospital.

When the mix-up was discovered, Ashmore was found to have told a student midwife not to ‘drop anybody in the s**t’ and ‘say the bare minimum’.

She was found to have acted dishonestly when telling the actual mother her baby had not been fed when in fact it had been given milk by the other woman.

The babies were born on 13th November 2007 and were taken away to be cared for while the mothers rested, the Nursing and Midwifery Council heard last week.

Ward staff later returned the wrong babies to their mothers.

Striking Ashmore off the register, panel chair Sheila Hewitt said Ms Ashmore’s conduct presented a ‘risk’ to patients and a ‘fundamental departure from the profession’.

“This behaviour is a significant departure from that expected from a midwife, and in those circumstances the panel concludes that her actions amount to misconduct,” she said.

“At no point has she demonstrated any insight into her actions, and as such the panel have not been presented any evidence that there is no longer any risk of repetition.”

Ashmore admitted she failed to record the error in the mothers’ notes and failed to inform anyone at the time of the change over one shift to another.

She was cleared of deliberately trying to influence the hospital’s internal investigation.

The nurse had denied the rest of the charges, and did not attend the London hearing last week.