Midwife struck off for asking new mum 'why's your baby always crying?'

An 'incredibly unkind' midwife has been struck off after asking a new mother 'why is your baby always crying?'.

Disgraced Olubukola Bridget Ajana shouted at patients, shook someone's baby, and failed to offer a woman in labour any food, water or pain relief, a professional tribunal heard.

She spent 10 months being aggressive towards patients, including squeezing one woman's nipples without consent, the panel was told.

One patient told the tribunal that Ms Ajana had 'no compassion' and made her feel 'extremely stupid'.

A fitness to practise committee found that her behaviour raised 'fundamental questions' about her ability and were a 'significant departure' from the standards expected of a midwife.

They concluded her behaviour was serious misconduct and ordered her to be struck off the midwife register.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council tribunal heard Ms Ajana qualified as a midwife in 2007 and at the time of the incidents she was working at Barnet Hospital in north London.

A year into her employment, in June 2020, she told a patient to get out of bed just hours after a c-section and aggressively demanded a blood sample whilst the patient was breastfeeding.

When the patient, referred to as Patient H, asked to go home because of the poor level of care she was receiving Ms Ajana warned her it would be her responsibility if anything happened to her baby.

Ms Anjana also told Patient H she 'shouldn't cry', left her bed covered in blood, failed to change her pads or help with her baby, and did not provide her with pain relief.

In October 2020 she refused to help a patient, referred to as Patient E, change her baby's nappy, telling her 'we aren't here to change nappies' and 'who do you think is going to help when you're at home?'.

Patient E texted her husband to say she had asked for help because she hadn't done a change yet but Ms Ajana refused to even watch to let Patient E know if she was doing it correctly.

Ms Ajana also asked Patient E 'why is your baby always crying?' when it was because she was unable to quickly change the baby's nappy due to nerve damage in her foot and a numb right leg from her c-section 10 hours earlier.

That same month another patient, Patient G, asked Ms Ajana why there were blood stains on the bedding she had been given and the midwife told her it was 'normal' and the bedding had been cleaned.

Patient G was left on the floor whilst in labour and was not offered any pain relief, food or water which meant she did not eat for over 12 hours.

At Christmas the midwife told a patient, Patient J, off for using the call buzzer, telling her she was 'wasting my time' because other patients needed to be seen to.

Patient J told the tribunal that she had seen Ms Ajana shouting at other patients and thought she 'lacked compassion'.

In January 2021 the midwife 'shamed' a patient, Patient A, into standing up just nine hours after her c-section which left the woman in 'agony'.

Ms Ajana also shouted at Patient A that she had to start changing her own nappies but Patient A explained she couldn't safely move her baby because of her pain.

Patient A told the tribunal Ms Ajana was 'incredibly unkind with her words and tone' and made her feel 'shamed and unworthy' for not being well enough to change her baby's nappy.

In April 2021 a patient, Patient F, heard the midwife shouting at others on the ward and said Ms Ajana rolled her eyes at her when Patient F raised concerns about blood in her baby's nappy.

Patient F said the midwife's tone was 'awful' and she was 'aggressive, rude and insensitive'.

The same month Ms Ajana picked up a crying baby without the mother's consent and shook him for around 10 seconds, something that can injure or even kill a baby.

She also squeezed the mother's nipples and told her 'you've got no milk, that is why he is crying', the patient said the action made her feel 'violated and unsafe'.

Ms Ajana denied the allegations.

But in their conclusion the panel said patients were 'caused physical and emotional harm' by Ms Ajana and that there was a risk of her continuing her behaviour if she remained on the register.

The panel said: 'Patients were put at risk and were caused physical and emotional harm as a result of your misconduct.

'Your misconduct has breached the fundamental tenets of the nursing profession and therefore brought its reputation into disrepute.

'The panel determined that a fully informed member of the public would be appalled that you acted in the manner you did and would not expect that behaviour from a midwife.

'The panel found that the regulatory concerns raise fundamental questions about your professionalism, in particular the attitudinal concerns arising from your repeated serious misconduct.

'The panel concluded that your actions, in failing to treat vulnerable patients safely, professionally and with kindness were significant departures from the standards expected of a registered midwife and are fundamentally incompatible with remaining on the register.'