Alan Thomas Haugh
Introduction
Alan Thomas Haugh is a registered nurse who worked in Leeds and who was suspended for twelve months by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) on 6 February 2026, at the end of a Fitness to Practise Committee hearing that had begun the previous October. A panel found that Haugh made racially abusive comments to and about colleagues over a period of months, threw food at a colleague, grabbed a patient’s arms in an act of aggression, and left patient notes incomplete. It found his fitness to practise impaired by reason of misconduct and, while stopping short of a striking-off order, concluded that a visible restriction on his practice was needed to maintain public confidence in the profession .
Background Information
Haugh practised as a registered nurse in Leeds. The conduct examined at the hearing spanned late 2019 and the first half of 2020, a period that included the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic — a context the panel itself weighed when it came to sanction. The case reached the NMC’s Fitness to Practise Committee as a substantive meeting, with the hearing opening on 13 October 2025 and concluding on 6 February 2026 .
The allegations fell into four clusters: racially abusive or discriminatory comments made to or about colleagues between approximately April and July 2020; throwing food at a colleague on or around 24 November 2019; acting aggressively towards a patient by grabbing their arms and making an intimidating statement on or around 9 April 2020; and failing to complete patient notes on 19 March 2020 .
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Adjudicated (regulatory). The findings below were made by an NMC panel on the balance of probabilities — a civil standard, not a criminal conviction.
The panel worked through the allegations charge by charge. On the comments, it found several of the Schedule 1 charges proved — charges 1ii, 1iii and 1vi through 1xvii — and, critically, found as a separate proved charge that the conduct in those comments was racially abusive. The physical and documentary allegations were also proved in material part: the panel found proved that Haugh threw food at a colleague, that he acted aggressively towards a patient including grabbing their arms, and that he failed to complete patient notes .
Not every allegation survived. The published decision does not set out the detail of the charges that fell away, but the proved list excludes a number of the individual Schedule 1 comment charges, and the panel’s finding of racism attached to the proved comments rather than to the whole of the alleged period. On the proved conduct the panel found misconduct, and found Haugh’s fitness to practise currently impaired on both public-protection and public-interest grounds .
On sanction, the panel concluded that a suspension order of twelve months was the proportionate outcome, expressly finding that the conduct was not fundamentally incompatible with remaining on the register. That judgment rested on what the panel accepted as some evidence of developing insight and mitigation in Haugh’s favour .
Public Reaction and Consequences
The consequence is the twelve-month suspension order itself, which removes Haugh from practice while it runs and places a substantive misconduct finding — including an express finding of racially abusive conduct — on his regulatory record. No interim order detail is recorded on the public listing for the case .
The panel’s mitigation list included Haugh’s admission of some of the less serious charges, a reflective piece and further training evidencing developing insight, testimonials from colleagues, apologies to the panel and to one witness, and the Covid-19 pandemic’s contextual stressors on health services at the time of the events. Against that it set aggravating factors that were unusually pointed: a breach of several fundamental tenets of the profession, actions occurring over a period amid numerous allegations, distress caused to colleagues, and its finding of deep-seated attitudinal concerns towards staff and colleagues, with insight it described as incomplete and attitudinal concerns unresolved .
Current Status
Haugh is a suspended nurse. The twelve-month suspension was imposed on 6 February 2026 and, on the face of the published decision, was not accompanied by a striking-off order because the panel found the case fell short of fundamental incompatibility with registration. The finding that his insight remained incomplete and that attitudinal concerns were unresolved is the part of the decision most likely to shape any future review of his registration .
Impact on Their Career/Life
A nurse the panel found had made racially abusive comments to colleagues, thrown food at a colleague and acted aggressively towards a patient now carries a twelve-month suspension and a misconduct finding that names racism expressly. The panel’s own reasoning records both directions of the case: admission, reflection and testimonials on one side, deep-seated and unresolved attitudinal concerns on the other. What that balance produces at the end of the suspension period — a return to practice, conditions, or a further order — depends on the insight the panel found still incomplete .