Hannah Jane Finnigan
Introduction
Hannah Jane Finnigan is a UK dental nurse who was suspended from the GDC register for twelve months on 9 June 2026, after a Professional Conduct Committee found her fitness to practise impaired by misconduct and by conviction: she ticked “no” to the convictions-and-cautions question on her 2021 registration application while carrying a police caution, was convicted of drug driving in 2024, failed to tell the GDC about it, and worked for nearly five months without indemnity insurance. All five charges were found proved, with an immediate suspension order and a review before expiry .
Background Information
The dishonesty limb came first in time. On 3 August 2021, applying for GDC registration, Finnigan answered “no” to the question about convictions, cautions and police investigations — while she had a police caution on her record. The conviction limb followed: on 23 August 2024 she was convicted at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court of driving with a proportion of a specified controlled drug, delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, above the specified limit. She then failed to promptly inform the GDC of the charge and conviction, and from 3 June 2024 to 28 October 2024 she practised without holding adequate indemnity insurance .
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Convicted and adjudicated (regulatory). The 2024 drug-driving offence is a criminal conviction. The false registration declaration was found dishonest by a GDC committee applying the civil standard, via the Ivey test.
Charges 1, 2(a), 3, 4 and 5 were proved on her own admissions. Charge 2(b) — dishonesty — was decided by the committee after applying the Ivey test, and it concluded she had deliberately withheld information about a police caution when applying for registration. The committee found the conduct a sufficiently serious breach of the standards to amount to misconduct, and her fitness to practise currently impaired by reason of both misconduct and conviction, on public protection and public interest grounds .
Its assessment of her was pointed: the dishonesty was not at the lower end, her insight was limited, and the risk of repetition was not sufficiently low. In aggravation it listed the significant delay in informing the GDC of the charge and conviction, personal gain — the false answer bought her entry to the register — the fact this was not an isolated incident, attempts to cover up the behaviour, and a disregard for the GDC and its regulatory systems. In mitigation: some developing insight, some reflection, and no repetition since the matters came to light .
Public Reaction and Consequences
The consequence is the twelve-month suspension, in force immediately, with the review gate before it can lift — the strongest sanction combination short of erasure in the committee’s toolkit. The case is recorded in MedicWatch’s listing of dental professionals suspended in 2026 .
The case stacks three distinct failures: a false declaration to enter the register, a criminal conviction for drug driving, and months of uninsured practice. No employer statement or public comment from Finnigan appears in the fetched record beyond the determination .
Current Status
Finnigan is a suspended dental nurse under a twelve-month order imposed on 9 June 2026, in force immediately, with a review directed before expiry. The drug-driving conviction is recent, the caution is now on the regulator’s record, and the indemnity gap has closed with the suspension itself .
The review will test the two findings the committee flagged: limited insight, and a risk of repetition that was not low enough. Her mitigation — developing insight, some reflection, no repetition since — is the record she will have to build on .
Impact on Their Career/Life
The false “no” on the 2021 form is the load-bearing failure: had the caution been declared, the GDC could have assessed it then, and the 2024 conviction would have landed on an honest record. Instead the concealed caution made the drug-driving charge a compound problem — a new conviction plus proof that the register entry itself had been obtained dishonestly. The uninsured months sharpen the point: the same indifference to obligations that hid the caution also left patients without cover. Twelve months suspended, with immediate effect, is the price of all three .