A MIDWIFE has been suspended for a year after giving a false reference in a bid to get an unemployed pal a job.

Michele Dunn had worked briefly with the woman during a stint in Australia but wrote and confirmed a reference which said her friend had worked alongside her in Colchester General Hospital for ten months.

The friend, who was not named by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), had applied for a job in health and social services in Guernsey.

When Ms Dunn’s actions were discovered, she alerted her Turner Road employer and she was reported to the NMC.

She admitted three charges against her during a fitness to practice hearing.

A report of the hearing said Ms Dunn told committee members her friend claimed to have been in “dire straits”, had no income and couldn’t provide for her children”.

The report adds: “You told the panel that in the circumstances, upon reflection, you would have taken a step back when [Midwife 1] asked you to provide a false reference and not succumbed to the pressure she placed upon you.

“You informed the panel that you had previously worked with [Midwife 1] at two hospitals in Australia.”

Ms Dunn also claimed her friend had told her she was waiting for legitimate references but they were taking too long and she “felt pressure to assist her”.

But the committee did not believe her.

The report added: “The panel did not find credible your explanation of the alleged pressure placed upon you by [Midwife 1], nor did it find that your explanation justified your actions.”

Ms Dunn wrote the reference in December 2014 and confirmed in with the Guernsey trust in June 2015.

It claimed the unnamed midwife had worked at Colchester General Hospital between March 2013 to December 2013.

A spokesman for Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust said: “Michele Dunn left this trust almost two years ago.

"She joined in May 2013 as matron for contraception and sexual health and gynaecology services and, following her resignation, left the trust in May 2015.”