Midwife at Musgrove hospital struck off after giving drugs without prescriptions

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust said it became "quickly aware" of what Michelle Busby had done in 2015

A midwife has been struck off after she gave a patient, a colleague and a colleague's husband painkillers without a prescription.

Michelle Busby was initially suspended from work at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton, Somerset, in April 2018.

The allegations dating from January to May 2015 were proven against her and she was suspended for nine months.

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust said the patient was not harmed and that such wrongdoing was a "rare occurrence".

'Fundamentally incompatible'

Co-codamol is a combination of two pain killers, paracetamol and codeine, and is regularly used for pain relief by maternity units but it must be prescribed to patients first, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Mrs Busby, who first qualified as a midwife in September 2007, has not responded to any communication from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) since February 2019 following other suspensions.

The NMC has since removed her registration and said her "continued lack of engagement had reached a point where it was fundamentally incompatible with remaining on the register".

A spokesperson for Somerset NHS Foundation Trust said staff quickly became aware of the "complex and unusual case" and made a referral to the NMC.

"To ensure medicines are managed in line with our trust guidelines we have multiple monitoring systems in place within our maternity unit, including a daily medicines managements audit, daily ward level stock counts and maternity-specific safety walkabouts.

"These processes are regularly reviewed and updated in line with changes to national standards and our trust policy," the trust said.