David Guyers

Introduction

David Guyers is a former nurse who worked at Swallowfield Garden Care Home in Bolton, a care home for people with mental health conditions. He was struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) after an independent misconduct panel found that, during a night shift on 22 February 2023, he grabbed a vulnerable resident — referred to in the proceedings as Resident A — by the arm and pulled or dragged him across the home’s kitchen, causing him to fall to the floor and cut his head. The panel also found he lied about what had happened: in an incident report he described the injury as a “witnessed fall”, an account undermined when the NMC reviewed CCTV footage from the home. Guyers did not attend the hearing, having told the regulator he no longer wished to practise as a nurse .

Background Information

Resident A was allowed access to the kitchen at the home and kept personal food items in a shared fridge. He was known to “become anxious and unsettled” by “change or unfamiliar situations”, and while he could present as “hostile or verbally aggressive”, it was “very rare” for him to become physically aggressive. The home had systems in place to manage distress and strategies to de-escalate situations, and Guyers had himself been trained in de-escalation and restraint techniques — the context against which the panel assessed whether any physical intervention could have been justified .

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council after a misconduct panel found he dragged a resident and lied about it.

The NMC found that on 22 February 2023, during a night shift, Guyers approached Resident A in the kitchen and the two appeared to speak for less than a minute. The panel found: “Mr Guyers grabbed Resident A by the arm and pulled or dragged him across the kitchen, causing Resident A to fall to the floor, partly into the corridor.” Within its findings the NMC recorded that it was “also alleged that Resident A sustained a head injury, with visible bleeding from a cut to the forehead” — the head cut the panel heard had been caused by the dragging. The conduct findings were matters the panel found on CCTV evidence rather than on Guyers’s account: the watchdog reviewed footage that confirmed Resident A’s behaviour “appeared to give no cause for concern”, and the panel found “no observable evidence of dangerous behaviour that would justify physical intervention” .

Guyers’s own account differed. In the incident form he claimed the resident had displayed “untoward behaviour” and then “dropped to the floor”, describing a “witnessed fall”; the panel heard he had also claimed Resident A had been “trashing the kitchen” and that he tried to take hold of his hands to remove him. When the care home began investigating the injury, he told managers in a formal interview that the fall was an “accident” and that he had simply been trying to move Resident A from what he believed was a “risky environment”. NMC investigators argued his explanation “shifted over time” .

The NMC also alleged that around a week earlier Guyers had physically moved Resident A out of a lounge area while telling him “right you - upstairs”, with witnesses describing him dragging Resident A, who lived on the top floor of the home, towards a lift. Deciding the outcome, the panel concluded: “The seriousness of the misconduct was compounded by his dishonesty, which the panel found was used in an attempt to cover up what had happened, to mislead the Home and had the potential to be detrimental to Resident A’s ongoing care.” On that basis the panel struck Guyers off the register .

Public Reaction and Consequences

The consequence was removal from the professional register: Guyers was referred to the NMC and charged with misconduct, but chose not to defend the case, telling the regulator he no longer wished to practise as a nurse and consenting to the hearing going ahead in his absence. In an email to the NMC he wrote: “This is far too late now in my life to pursue, it is also very costly.” The BBC reported the panel’s findings, including the CCTV review that contradicted his incident report; Cuerden Care, which operates Swallowfield Gardens, was contacted for comment .

Current Status

Guyers is struck off the NMC register and, by his own statement to the regulator, no longer wishes to practise as a nurse. The panel’s findings — the proved physical conduct, the finding that no dangerous behaviour justified intervention, and the dishonesty finding — stand as the public regulatory record. The article noted Cuerden Care had been contacted for comment; no response from the company was reported .

Impact on Their Career/Life

The strike-off ends Guyers’s entry on the nursing register, closing his career as a nurse on findings that he dragged a vulnerable resident to the floor and then sought to disguise it as a “witnessed fall”. He declined to pursue or contest the proceedings — in his own words because it was “far too late now in my life” and “very costly” — leaving the panel’s conclusions unchallenged. Its central aggravating conclusion, that his dishonesty was used in an attempt to cover up what had happened, to mislead the home and had the potential to be detrimental to Resident A’s ongoing care, now sits permanently alongside the CCTV evidence that disproved his account .

Sources

• “Care home nurse dragged patient to floor, cutting his head” — BBC News, 2 October 2026: source