A 'MUSKETEER' midwife facing a series of misconduct charges is set to face a disciplinary panel today.

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Catherine McCullough, who is still working at Furness General Hospital, has been ordered to appear before a Nursing and Midwifery Council panel hearing in London today over her fitness to practice.

She is alleged to have failed to provide proper care for a pregnant woman in her charge at FGH, in Dalton Lane, Barrow, in September 2013.

The midwife could be struck off or issued with a suspension order if she is found guilty of nine separate counts of misconduct - including failing to record decelerations in the fetal heart rate or notifying a doctor of problems during labour - in relation to the mum-to-be known as Patient O.

Ms McCullough, who qualified as a midwife in 1990, was working at the hospital during the period heavily critised by government patient safety expert Dr Bill Kirkup, who found 11 babies and one mother died needlessly at FGH between 2004 and 2013 in his Morecambe Bay Investigation Report published in March.

The NMC panel hearing of Ms McCullough, who is registered to provide midwifery care until March next year, is scheduled to last nine days and will begin today.

A spokeswoman for the NMC confirmed Ms McCullogh is scheduled to attend a Conduct and Competence Committee hearing over failings at Morecombe Bay early next year.

A panel from this committee will decide whether the allegation against her is proved and if her fitness to practise is impaired. If so, it will also decide which sanction to impose.