Aneesh Daniel
Introduction
Aneesh Daniel is a radiographer who worked for the medical imaging provider Affidea at its Belfast Clinic. In August 2026 a Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) conduct panel suspended him from the register for nine months, after finding that he had accessed a patient’s confidential contact details without authorisation and used them to text and telephone her in conduct the panel found to be sexually motivated. The case also covered his failure to tell the regulator that his employer had suspended and then dismissed him. The decision appears on MedicWatch’s independent record of regulator determinations and on the official HCPTS hearings listing, and he is recorded among suspended practitioners on MedicWatch’s suspensions list.
Background Information
Daniel was employed as an MRI radiographer by Affidea at the Belfast Clinic. In May 2023, two months before the incident, he completed employer-provided training in privacy and data protection, including GDPR. The panel later noted that this meant he would recently have been made aware of the importance of patient confidentiality and of not accessing records for personal reasons. Before this case he had no previous regulatory findings against him.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Suspended for sexually motivated contact with a patient.
On 17 July 2023, Service User A attended an MRI appointment at the Belfast Clinic. Daniel conducted the scan and was the only radiographer present. Later that day, at around 3:08pm, she received text messages from him, sent from his personal mobile and using her name, telling her that he felt he loved her and that it was love at first sight. She also received two missed telephone calls from him. He had obtained her number by accessing the clinic’s database and her confidential contact details without authorisation, and the panel found there was no clinical justification for him to hold her personal details at all.
Service User A emailed the clinic the next day to complain, enclosing screenshots of the messages and missed calls, saying it was distressing to know the individual had access to all of her personal details, including her address. The clinic suspended Daniel pending investigation on or around 18 July 2023, and after a disciplinary hearing dismissed him for gross misconduct on or around 24 July 2023. At an investigatory meeting he admitted the allegation, described it as a moment of madness, said he had deleted her number at once and apologised by email. He did not report the suspension or dismissal to the HCPC, as his professional standards required, and the regulator learned of them only through its own processes.
At the substantive hearing, held from 17 to 21 August 2026, Daniel admitted the unauthorised access, the contact and the failure to report, but did not admit that his conduct was sexually motivated and put forward no alternative explanation for it. The panel found sexual motivation proved: it judged that obtaining her details and sending unsolicited romantic messages was done in pursuit of a future sexual relationship. It found misconduct and that his fitness to practise is currently impaired on both personal and public grounds. Aggravating factors were the emotional harm caused to Service User A, who described herself as ‘shaken’ and ‘distressed’; his abuse of his professional position and of the trust service users place in the profession; and that the sexually motivated misconduct fell into a serious category under HCPTS policy. Mitigating factors included his admissions, engagement, remorse, a single episode and no previous findings.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The panel treated the case as far too serious for a caution order or a conditions of practice order, concluding that public confidence in the profession could not be maintained by such measures given the seriousness of sexually motivated misconduct and the abuse of professional position involved. It reasoned that members of the public would be particularly concerned if no impairment finding were made against a radiographer who had acted in a sexually motivated way towards a patient and then failed to report his employer’s sanctions. The panel also considered that the public would be shocked and troubled if he were allowed to practise while any appeal was pending. The outcome is now part of the public record on the HCPTS site and on MedicWatch, which lists him under its suspended practitioners.
Current Status
On 21 August 2026 the panel directed a nine-month suspension order, the minimum it considered necessary to mark the seriousness of the misconduct, with a review shortly before expiry. A separate interim suspension order of 18 months covers the appeal period before the substantive order takes effect. Daniel has worked in a healthcare setting as a home care worker since October 2023, most recently in a role involving access to care records, confidentiality and safeguarding, with no reports of issues, but the panel had no references or testimonials to verify this. It flagged that a future reviewing panel will want an in-depth reflective statement addressing the impact on Service User A, evidence of development in confidentiality, boundaries and ethics, and character references.
Impact on Their Career/Life
Daniel lost his radiography post with Affidea in July 2023 after findings of gross misconduct, and he has not practised as a radiographer since. The nine-month suspension means he cannot return to HCPC-registered practice unless and until a reviewing panel is satisfied that his insight and remediation have developed so that repetition is highly unlikely. His written reflection did not specifically address the sexually motivated aspect of his conduct, which the panel treated as an unfinished part of his remediation. The determination also remains permanently searchable on public registers and independent records such as MedicWatch.