Andrew Robert Ullathorne
Introduction
Andrew Robert Ullathorne is a dentist formerly registered with the General Dental Council (registration number 77940) who was erased from the register — struck off — on 2 April 2025 by a Professional Conduct Committee of the GDC. The hearing ran from 31 March to 2 April 2025, part held in private because part of the case concerned his health. Ullathorne was neither present nor represented; satisfied service was proper, his absence voluntary and adjournment pointless, the Committee proceeded under Rule 54. His fitness to practise was found impaired by reason of both misconduct and an adverse health condition.
The determination records two conduct strands: claims for NHS long-term sickness pay across 2016 to 2018 made while he continued submitting claims for dental work — found misleading and dishonest — and a months-long failure to respond to GDC investigation correspondence or keep an effective registered address.
Background Information
The determination does not describe Ullathorne’s training, career history or practice location, and this page does not speculate about them. It records that his practice had closed by November 2020, when concerns first reached the GDC. The investigation focused on three issues: his failure to respond to the regulator’s correspondence, his failure to maintain an effective registered address, and the sickness-leave claims. He had no previous fitness to practise history.
The case also carries a health strand that the public version of the determination keeps private. Charge 1 alleged an adverse physical condition specified in a confidential schedule, and the Committee moved into private session whenever his health was discussed. When he finally responded in April 2023, he drew attention to a health matter and applied for voluntary removal from the register — refused by the Registrar, reasons notified in June 2023.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Adjudicated vs. alleged. These are regulatory findings made on the balance of probabilities by a GDC Professional Conduct Committee — not criminal convictions, and erasure is not a criminal record. He was not present or represented and provided no response to the allegations. The health strand (Charge 1) is a finding about a medical condition, not a finding of wrongdoing; its nature is not disclosed in the public version.
The core findings concerned the NHS claims. NHS Business Services Authority and Greater Manchester NHS witnesses gave evidence that between 3 October 2016 and 27 July 2018 Ullathorne received long-term sickness payments totalling £88,818.71 across 362 days, having submitted fit notes directly to the NHS Business Authority. Over the same periods he submitted 39 FP17 treatment claims whose start and completion dates fell entirely within them. Only the performer-number holder could enter details on an FP17, and the Committee ruled out the possibility that a locum had submitted the claims. It concluded he knowingly submitted the 39 claims when he knew he was on sick leave — not a one-off error but conduct repeated over a long period.
The Committee found the conduct misleading — the NHSBSA was misled into believing the work was being done by Ullathorne — and dishonest, concluding that ordinary decent people would regard submitting claims for dental work while receiving sick pay as clearly dishonest. All conduct charges and the health charge were found proved.
The remaining conduct charges concerned his non-engagement with the regulator. Between 26 August 2021 and 28 March 2023 he failed to respond to GDC correspondence about its investigation, despite repeated attempts to contact him, and his registered address was found not effective. Telephoning the GDC on 28 March 2023 to acknowledge a notice for an interim orders hearing, he said he had been “only made aware by the letter he received today”, which had gone to his home address rather than his registered one. Noting that he later used the same email address the GDC had been writing to for two years, this time enquiring about voluntary removal, the Committee concluded he had received the communications but chose not to respond. The health charge was found proved on expert medical evidence and his own acceptance of his condition.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The Committee concluded that the facts found proved, apart from the health matter, amounted to misconduct. Ullathorne had breached Standard 1.3 of the GDC’s Standards for the Dental Team — “you must be honest and act with integrity” — and Standard 9.4, which requires registrants to co-operate with any relevant formal or informal inquiry; the Committee called such cooperation and address-keeping basic and fundamental requirements of being a registered dentist, and said his dishonest conduct could properly be regarded as “deplorable” by fellow practitioners. Current impairment was found on both grounds: the dishonest misconduct was attitudinal and hard to remediate, his actions more likely than not financially motivated to prevent NHS clawback.
On sanction, the only mitigating factor was limited insight into his health condition. Against that stood dishonesty sustained over a protracted period, lack of insight and non-engagement suggesting a deep-seated attitudinal problem; reprimand, conditional registration and suspension were each found insufficient. Notwithstanding his April 2023 indication that he had “absolutely no intention of returning to dentistry in any form in the future”, the Committee noted it would be open to him to return, found he poses an ongoing risk of significant harm to the public, and held erasure the only appropriate and proportionate sanction.
Current Status
Ullathorne is erased from the GDC register — struck off — removing him from the register of dentists legally entitled to practise in the UK. The Committee revoked his interim suspension order, due to expire on 17 July 2025, and imposed an immediate suspension covering at least 28 days from deemed service; if no appeal is made, erasure replaces it after that period, and if one is made, the suspension remains until the appeal concludes. The hearings service page records the outcome as “Erased and Immediate suspension”, the hearing ending on 8 April 2025.
Impact on Their Career/Life
The erasure ends Ullathorne’s ability to practise dentistry in the UK. He had told the GDC he had no intention of returning to dentistry in any form, yet his voluntary removal application was refused, so the findings stand against his name on the public record. The determination records no explanation, reflection or insight from him; the £88,818.71 received over 362 days of certified sickness, against 39 treatment claims submitted while signed off, stands as the documented core of the case. Unless he successfully appeals, the erasure is final.