A midwife at the Royal Free Hospital discharged a woman in the middle of the night only for her to give birth in the hospital car park just minutes later, a court heard.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council hearing was told that Ngozichukwuka Valerie Busari was blasted by senior hospital staff for failing to examine the patient properly and sending her home with painkillers for contractions even after her waters broke.

NHS bosses launched an internal inquiry and if the Nursing and Midwifery Council finds Busari guilty of misconduct she could be struck off the nursing register.

Senior midwife Georgina Sims, who carried out the internal investigation, told the hearing a doctor had prescribed the woman drugs and left instructions she could be discharged if her condition improved.

She said: “However, even if the doctor had recommended this, it would not detract from her responsibility of ensuring the patient was well enough to go home.

“She assessed her and let her leave the hospital and upon doing so, the patient gave birth in the hospital car park.

“Ms Busari should have monitored the circumstances and given the medication that had been prescribed to the patient.

“It was the incorrect decision to send her home without assessment. She should have been closely observed before being discharged.”

The woman, identified only as patient A, was admitted with painful contractions at around 10.30pm on August 26, 2010.

The expectant mother was discharged at 3.15am, only for her to give birth in the hospital car park at 4.10am.

Midwife Busari also faces a charge of abandoning another expectant mother with her legs secured in stirrups midway through giving birth on September 26, 2010.

The panel heard a doctor had come in to check on the woman, known only as patient B, and put her in the lithotomy position (feet above the hips) while Busari was in the room.

A short while later another nurse went into the room and found that Busari was no longer there and that the patient had been left on her own, it is alleged.

Mrs Sims said: “It was inappropriate that the patient had been left alone, given that she was in the second stage of labour and that she was in the lithotomy position.

“During the investigation, I felt she failed to take responsibility for her actions. She frequently referred to doctors and what they had told her to do, but it did not negate her responsibilities.

“I felt that she did not clearly understand the seriousness of what she had done.”

Busari is further accused of making a string of record keeping errors, and of filling in charts retrospectively.

She denies all of the allegations.

The hearing has been adjourned and will be continued at a later date.