Daniel Hussey

Introduction

Daniel Hussey is a former mental-health nurse who worked for South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust in Barnsley, where he served as a child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) nurse and as the service’s clinical lead for eating disorders. On 3 September 2025, the BBC reported that the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) had struck him off the nursing register after a panel found he had committed serious misconduct by crossing professional boundaries with young patients — cuddling an adolescent patient on his lap in an accident and emergency department, paying unaccompanied visits to another patient’s home and bedroom, and driving her in his private car. The panel’s conclusions were regulatory findings, not criminal convictions, and no criminal charge against Hussey appears in reports of the case.

Background Information

Hussey was described in reports of the hearing as a senior nurse. He worked in Barnsley CAMHS for South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and was clinical lead for eating disorders in the service. The NMC panel heard that concerns about his behaviour had been raised within the trust as early as 2017, when he suggested to a former patient that they meet for lunch. Further concerns were lodged about his behaviour around a patient he had accompanied to hospital for admission to an inpatients’ ward and then visited at home. The panel heard that the ward manager saw the two of them together the next day and said Hussey had been “within [the patient’s] personal space”. Those home visits took place in 2018 and 2019.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated vs. alleged. The NMC panel’s findings against Daniel Hussey — unaccompanied home visits to a patient and lifts in his private car, a visit to a former patient’s home with his daughter to drop off baby clothes, and cuddling Patient B on his lap in A&E — were civil-standard regulatory findings recorded by the regulator, not criminal convictions. The claim that he and the patient he visited had an “inappropriate relationship” came from the patient’s friend, was denied by the patient herself, and was not a finding the panel made.

Nearly three years after the 2018 and 2019 home visits, a friend of the patient reported that the pair had an “inappropriate relationship”. The trust said the patient denied this, but the NMC panel ruled that visiting her home and giving her lifts amounted to misconduct, finding the conduct “inappropriate as it was not necessary for Mr Hussey to be alone with the patient, nor was it in the care plan to convey unaccompanied service users in his private car”. The panel also found misconduct in a visit Hussey made to a former patient’s home with his daughter to drop off baby clothes, behaviour it said was “potentially intrusive and went beyond normal professional boundaries”. It further found that cuddling Patient B in A&E “did not relate to the clinical care of Patient B and was not appropriate behaviour when interacting with a vulnerable CAMHS patient”. Colleagues told the panel that Hussey saw himself as a “white knight” who believed “only I can fix this person”, and that his actions had “blurred boundaries, hampered recovery, and damaged family relationships”.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The panel concluded that only a striking-off order was appropriate. Its chair, Anica Alvarez Nishio, said striking off was “the only sanction which reflects the gravity of the concerns”. The panel said Hussey’s actions were “especially egregious” because his patients were “highly likely to have some degree of vulnerability”, found his behaviour had “put both patients and the public at risk of serious harm”, and described it as “indicative of a deep-seated attitudinal behaviour which Mr Hussey has normalised over a prolonged period of time”. Hussey did not attend the hearing. In a statement to the panel he said: “I appreciate that at times my approach may appear to be a little unorthodox, however I have never tried to hide this”, adding that he was “proud of the fact that I have been able to work with so many young people in a way which helped them feel safe, loved and hopeful of a future”. South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust said patient safety was its “main priority”, with a spokesperson stating: “Whenever concerns are raised with us, we investigate thoroughly and take immediate action”, and “This includes providing support to anyone who is affected by what has happened”.

Current Status

Hussey was struck off the NMC register, the most severe sanction available to the regulator, after the panel determined that his misconduct was too grave for a lesser order. The striking-off order was in place when the findings were reported on 3 September 2025. Hussey did not attend the hearing at which it was made.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Striking off removed Hussey from the register of nurses entitled to practise in the United Kingdom, ending his role as a Barnsley CAMHS nurse and clinical lead for eating disorders. The panel’s description of conduct normalised over a prolonged period, and colleagues’ “white knight” account of his self-image, framed the case as entrenched boundary-breaking with vulnerable young patients rather than an isolated lapse. Hussey, in his statement, maintained that his unorthodox approach had helped the young people he worked with feel safe, loved and hopeful of a future.