Midwives probed after slagging bosses on internet networking sites

Jun 8 2008 Exclusive by Charles Lavery

MIDWIVES have been rapped after slagging off their bosses on internet networking sites.

The 23 women at Wishaw General Hospital have been warned they are being probed over messages left on personal Bebo and Facebook pages.

And they were threatened with the sack if they did not remove offending comments from their websites.

Some of the midwives described themselves as "baby catchers" and called maternity wards at Wishaw, Lanarkshire, "the dreaded unit". Abuse was levelled at senior managers, including the hospital's associate director of midwifery Noreen Kent, who is heading the investigation.

Most of the pages, which friends can access and leave messages on, have now been taken off.

One of the midwives said: "Nobody sat the girls down and said, 'What's wrong?' Instead they set about proving that, in their spare time, they may have chatted to each other about some negative aspects of their jobs.

"Would it not be better for management to devote time and energy to addressing the issues instead of a witch-hunt?"

A spokesman for NHS Lanarkshire said: "I can confirm that 23 midwives are under investigation.

"There are professional codes of conduct which outline the responsibility of midwifery staff within and out with the workplace. Any breach of these codes is taken extremely seriously."

When asked if the hospital had addressed issues raised by staff, the spokesman declined to comment further.

Most of the midwives spoke of their desperation to get other jobs and said they hated management, accusing them of lacking knowledge of nursing.

Another midwife added: "Is it not indicative of a big problem when the only place midwives can vent their feelings is on their personal websites?"

The 70-plus midwives at Wishaw help deliver 5500 babies every year - or 16 a day.

c.lavery@sundaymail.co.uk