Do you care what colour hair your midwife has?

[Purplekaz08]

I have seen on the news that a midwife is Lincoln has been told not to go to work and may lose her job because her hair is dyed red? AIBU to think this trust is out of touch with the modern world? I really would not care if a midwife or nurse had rainbow coloured hair as long as they were kind and competent?

@valentinoandme - are you the MW in question or are you involved in the case?

Because if not, I don’t think you can say with absolute certainty that her hair colour is definitely the only issue- and if you’ve been trusted with confidential information about an ongoing disciplinary case, it shouldn’t be bandied about on an Internet forum.

Obviously we can only go on the information given, but such a hard line being taken on an otherwise excellent member of staff over a minor issue is very odd, especially if other PP are correct and her union can’t/won’t help despite this policy being implemented after her employment started.

How bizarre and how out of touch! Of course her hair colour wouldn't matter to me.

I can say it with absolute certainty because I'm a colleague!! And nothing that I've said is confidential as it's been all over the news! I am stating fact.

One of my midwives had visible tattoos, facial piercings and a shaved head. She is an amazing and dedicated midwife who has been nominated for awards for her work.

"Unprofessional" appearance is one of those things where uniformed nurses are often held to a higher standard than non-uniformed professionals such as Drs and social workers.

In the case of midwives it is worth noting that there are very few male midwives.

The roots of this are interesting, and relevant to the development of Nursing as a profession. Nurses as handmaidens has very deep roots.

Handmaidens of course mustn't show any personality.

Her union is the RCN isn't It

The NHS guidelines don't mention hair colour, this has been added by some individual trusts. The national policy on tattoos stipulates that they shouldn't be offensive, not that they shouldn't be visible.

How fucking ridiculous

My midwife had straight nondescript blonde hair and a fake tan. Entirely conformist. She was a shit midwife.

This is ridiculous!
Poor woman. Reading the article it sounds more like bullying from senior management.
My DSis is a midwife & one of her colleagues has lilac hair. Their trust has no problem with that.

@Purplekaz08 I worked as a HCA they have a strict dress code meaning you can't dye your hair a funky colour! Even though it's just 'red' if you allow one person to do it the next might come in with rainbow hair.... and that's not professional is it?

What's not professional about it?

What’s unprofessional about it?

Having a big penis tattoo or a swastika tattoo is unacceptable. Have colourful hair is unproblematic as far as I’m concerned

Having

My midwife was amazing, she could have had polka dot or stripey hair for all I cared!

I don't need a mw to look 'professional', I need then to be clean, caring, experienced and good at their job. That's it. They could have two heads each dyed a different colour and it wouldn't matter.

RCN rep just been on local news saying...as Trust in special measures they should be focusing on other things etc.

The midwife that delivered my first had short, pinky red hair, and was about as far from the stereotypical midwife you can imagine, but she was absolutely bloody amazing! (Especially when compared to the cowbag that delivered my son!)

It's an interesting debate, I am someone who has always had coloured hair, came in to nursing later and now have natural colour hair and have removed my flesh tunnels and most of my piercings, however I can do nothing about the tattoos that I have had for many years. If my trust changed the policy on tattoos I would have a problem but there would be absolutely nothing I could do about it.
I do wish I could have my fabulous hair back.

@HJWT the only reason the trust could have a problem with it is because people with rainbow hair colours/tattoos/lots of piercings stand out so they are the ones patients remember to praise or complain about. As you stand out you damn make sure it's the former.

Reminds me of this story (apologies for the Mail link!)
I think the nurse here is very pretty.
I don't care what colour a person's hair is. I only care about their ability to do their job.

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3699997/My-hair-color-never-prevented-treating-patient-Nurse-rainbow-locks-pens-furious-rant-publicly-shamed-bright-strands.html

Her union is rcm not rcn. Rcm are fairly useless.

RCN are useless too. Chocolate teapot comes to mind.

The midwife in question was interviewed on my local news, her hair is no way lilac. She's off work with stress because the whole process has made her ill. She was very tearful and said her confidence has been knocked and she doesn't like leaving the house anymore. Prior to all this she was known as "the midwife with red hair".

The trust she works at, imo, is awful. It has been for many years. The hospital she works out of is my nearest A&E but we would rather drive an hour away than go there. It's absolutely ridiculous that they are focusing on the colour of hair while they have the problems that they have.

*now lilac that should say.