Midwife who shut herself in hospital aspect rooms to puff away on fuel and air meant for labouring moms is struck off

A midwife who was caught puffing on laughing gas in hospital side rooms has been struck off. 

Olanike Toye was caught inhaling Entonox, commonly known as laughing gas, on three occasions by her colleagues when she thought no one was looking.

The gas and air that Toye used was meant for women in labour and is a commonly used recreational drug. 

When inhaled it can reduce pain for patients but also produce short-lived feelings of euphoria and relaxation.

She was struck off as a midwife by a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) panel last week where it was revealed she inhaled laughing gas in both Lewisham Hospital and Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London over the course of six months.

The panel said that her actions ‘involved planning and premeditation and formed a pattern of misconduct across two employers.’  

Toye was first caught in September 2022 in Lewisham Hospital after a midwife entered a room she thought was empty while looking for glasses. 

She instead found Toye alone in the room holding the gas and air mixture with a mouthpiece attached. 

Ms Toye ‘looked shocked’ and threw the pipe down onto the bed in the room, according to the witness. 

Mouthpieces for the gas and air pipes are individually wrapped, so the panel concluded that Toye must have unwrapped one after entering the room alone.

While the incident was not reported straight away, the witness told a colleague who reported the incident by email two weeks later. 

In another incident, a witness was looking for Toye when she heard the ‘familiar noise’ of a gas and air pipe being used from a room she thought was empty. 

She found Toye again puffing on laughing gas and said Toye was ‘unbalanced and fell slightly, knocking into a bin’. The witness, also a midwife, told Toye to take a break to regain her composure. 

She was caught for a third time after being transferred to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. 

Another midwife ‘flung’ open the doors of a darkened room to find Toye with laughing gas in her hand. 

The witness told the panel: ‘I was so shocked by what I was seeing and stood with my mouth wide open. Olanike [Toye] seemed very disoriented and said that she was sorry and that she had been looking for something. 

‘She picked up a birthing ball and said that the ball was what she was looking for, for a woman on the postnatal ward. She corrected herself and said it was for a different woman on the postnatal ward, but then corrected herself again and said the first woman’s name. 

‘She put the ball down and left the room, tripping up on her way out, leaving myself and [another midwife] with our mouths wide open.’ 

Ms Toye registered as a midwife in 2019 and began working in Lewisham Hospital before moving to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in 2023. 

The NMC struck off Toye last Wednesday. 

The panel said: ‘Honesty is central to professional practice and that your conduct involved dishonesty directly linked to your clinical role.

‘The real concern in this case was not the loss of a small amount of Entonox (gas and air) but the possible effect its use could have had on your ability to practise safely. Such conduct could bring the profession into disrepute.’

It added: ‘You breached trust by using a drug while responsible for patient care, that your defence was rejected as inherently dishonest, and that you have shown only limited insight.

‘A striking-off order is the only appropriate sanction in your case.’