High Court allows PSA appeal and substitutes striking-off order in PSA v NMC & Anor (Rev1) [2026] EWHC 141 (Admin)

On 30 January 2026 the High Court (Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care v Nursing and Midwifery Council & Anor (Rev1) [2026] EWHC 141 (Admin)) delivered judgment in Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care v Nursing and Midwifery Council & Anor [2026] EWHC 141 (Admin), an appeal under section 29 of the National Health Service Reform and Healthcare Professions Act 2002 by the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) against a Fitness to Practise panel of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). 

Background
The PSA appealed a decision of an NMC Fitness to Practise review panel made on 22 November 2024 concerning a registrant previously subject to regulatory orders. Prior proceedings began in 2023 when a substantive panel found multiple allegations proved involving a nurse’s breach of professional boundaries and imposed a Conditions of Practice Order. A subsequent review in September 2024 replaced that with a Suspension Order because conditions were not workable given the registrant’s placement on barred lists. The second review panel under appeal found the registrant’s fitness to practise impaired but allowed the Suspension Order to lapse with a recorded finding of impairment rather than striking the registrant off the register, causing registration to lapse on 29 November 2024. The PSA contended that this outcome was not within the range of sanctions reasonably open and that the panel failed to apply or properly apply the NMC’s guidance on removal from the register and gave inadequate reasons for its decision.

Outcome
The High Court allowed the appeal on both grounds. It held that the panel’s decision to allow the registration to lapse with a recorded finding of impairment was wrong in principle and outside the range of reasonable decisions open to it in light of the statutory objectives of protecting the public, maintaining public confidence and upholding professional standards, and the applicable guidance. The court quashed the panel’s decision and substituted a striking-off order, resulting in the registrant being struck off the NMC register. The court also awarded costs to the PSA on the standard basis with directions for summary assessment submissions.

Facts and issues
The registrant’s case included prior findings of serious misconduct and limited insight; the panel nevertheless concluded that striking off was not necessary and relied in part on the registrant’s stated desire to leave the profession. The High Court found this approach inconsistent with the guidance on sanctions and statutory objectives, and that the panel failed to provide clear, substantial, and specific reasons for departing from the guidance.

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