Juan P Saunar

Introduction

Juan P Saunar is a radiographer who was suspended from the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) register for eleven months in July 2026 after a Conduct and Competence Committee panel found his fitness to practise impaired by misconduct toward colleagues at work between September 2019 and January 2020. The panel found proved a pattern of sexual conduct directed at three colleagues: repeated unwelcome remarks about their appearance, unwelcome physical contact including touching a colleague’s hips and patting her buttocks, and taking photographs of a colleague in theatres without her consent. The case had already produced one suspension order in October 2024 that was quashed in December 2025; the re-heard case ended with a fresh suspension.

Background Information

The allegation concerned Saunar’s conduct toward Colleagues 1, 4 and 5, unnamed in the published decision, during his work as a radiographer. Toward Colleague 4 the particulars alleged that on multiple occasions he said “I love you” or words to that effect, attempted to kiss her, touched her hips, told her she was “sexy” or words to that effect, and patted her buttocks twice. Toward Colleague 5, who had asked him to stop, he repeatedly addressed her as “beautiful” and/or “gorgeous”, assisted her putting on a lead gown and goggles despite an indication she did not want him to, and took photographs of her without her consent while in theatres. When confronted about the photographs, he responded with, “my friends do not see red heads often”, or words to that effect.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Suspended after a re-hearing. The conduct findings rest on the panel’s civil-standard determinations in the 2026 hearing. The earlier 2024 order was quashed in December 2025 and the case was decided afresh; nothing in the published decision records a criminal conviction.

The particulars against Colleague 1 spanned the same months: repeated “gorgeous” and “beautiful” remarks; a comment made outside the unisex changing room, “you are smaller than what I had thought”, or words to that effect; entering the changing room in January 2020 while aware she might be changing, without knocking; at the December 2019 staff party telling her she was “sexy” and offering to buy her a drink; and on 24 December 2019 telling her she was “looking very slim in your tunic” and that her “boobs looked good”, gesturing breasts with his hands as he said it. In sanction submissions the HCPC placed the case within four categories its policy treats as particularly serious: “Discrimination against colleagues”, “Breach of professional boundaries”, “Vulnerability”, and “Conduct which is sexual in nature or sexually motivated”. Saunar did not seek to go behind the panel’s findings, acknowledged the seriousness of the misconduct, and pointed to the low risk of repetition the panel had found.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The hearing’s procedural history is part of the record: an earlier panel imposed a suspension order in October 2024, that order was quashed in December 2025 following a High Court consent order, and the fresh panel re-decided the case in July 2026. Testimonials from his subsequent employer were read, including from a clinical director, and the panel accepted that he had engaged fully with the proceedings, developed insight, and been willing to resolve matters in a way that impressed his current employers. Its starting point on sanction was twelve months, because in the panel’s words only the insight he had developed and demonstrated by his reflection, conduct at work, and admissions before the panel made a suspension sufficient rather than a striking off order. The panel then heard that he had already been suspended for a total of fourteen months under the quashed order, and reduced the period by one month to eleven to be fair to him in all the circumstances.

Current Status

Saunar is suspended from the HCPC register for eleven months from the date the order came into effect, with an interim order covering the period before the suspension takes effect or any appeal concludes. He cannot work as a radiographer in the UK while the order stands. The decision leaves him with a sustained sexual-misconduct finding on the public register, though the panel’s reasoning expressly credits his subsequent conduct: years of unblemished work, developed insight, and admissions before the panel. Any return to practice requires a review panel to be satisfied that the risk has been managed and confidence restored.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The case shows both the reach and the limits of the HCPC’s jurisdiction over workplace conduct: none of the proven conduct touched a patient, yet three colleagues’ testimony was enough for a year-long removal from the register, because the regulator treats sexual conduct toward colleagues as a public-confidence matter in its own right. The quashed first order also marks the case out: the registrant served fourteen months under a decision later set aside, and the fresh panel explicitly deducted that time rather than starting the sanction from zero. For NHS and private radiology departments alike, the decision records that photographs taken of colleagues in theatres without consent are treated as part of a single serious pattern alongside remarks and touching, not as an isolated lapse.

Sources

• HCPTS, “Juan P Saunar — Final Hearing, Conduct and Competence Committee, Suspended,” July 2026. source