Alert over ‘bogus midwife’

Health bosses have issued an alert over a ‘bogus midwife’ offering advice to pregnant women and mums.

The warning, which was sent to health bosses and GP surgeries, claims student Kristy Balkwill from Rochdale was using social media to give unqualified medical advice.

The alert was originally sent out via an internal trust memo but was later leaked on social media. It is headed ‘individual posing as community midwife’.

Sent out by the Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Clinical Commissioning Group, which governs local health services, the alert was sent to doctor’s surgeries via email.

It read: “We have been advised by Pennine Acute that a woman may by posing as a community midwife in the North West claiming to have worked for Pennine Acute trust previously as a midwife.

“The individual is reportedly giving advice to women, largely on social media. She is called Kristy Balkwill. She is not registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council and has never worked for Pennine Acute Trust. Police have been informed.”

The trust said it was concerned about the advice being given but stressed that no women are thought to have been approached in communities, hospitals or healthcare sites.

A spokesperson for The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We have been alerted that a woman who is posing as a midwife on the internet claims that she has worked at The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust. This woman was brought to our attention a few weeks ago after it was found that she was using social media to share information and offer advice.

“We can confirm this woman is not and has never been employed by this Trust. We have been liaising with the Local Supervising Authority (LSA) for midwifery and also the police. Although it is unlikely this woman will have actually seen and met a patient in the community, we are, however, taking this matter seriously and are asking our staff, local GPs and GP practices to be aware and vigilant of this individual and her comments on social media.”

Since the warning has been issued, all social media accounts linked to Kristy Balkwill have been deleted. She could not be reached for comment.