Kenneth Okpalanwaka

Introduction

Kenneth Okpalanwaka is a radiographer who was suspended from the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) register for twelve months in October 2026 after a Conduct and Competence Committee panel found that he had concealed an Interim Conditions of Practice Order from a prospective employer while applying for a job that required HCPC registration. The panel found that between January and February 2023 he applied to Trust A, later identified in the background as Liverpool Women’s Hospital, without informing the trust that his registration was subject to conditions or what those conditions were, and that this concealment was dishonest, presented false and incomplete information, and was done with a view to gaining employment. He attended the final hearing and confirmed he had no submissions to make on sanction.

Background Information

In late November 2022, a panel of the HCPC’s Investigating Committee imposed an Interim Conditions of Practice Order on Okpalanwaka, in respect of an unrelated matter, for eighteen months. He was present at that hearing. The order contained an express notification condition: “You must inform the following parties that your registration is subject to these conditions”, including “any prospective employer in respect of an employment that requires registration with the HCPC”. The concealment came to light on 2 March 2023, when a services manager at Liverpool Women’s Hospital emailed the HCPC’s fitness to practise team to say that Okpalanwaka had applied for a radiographer role with the trust but had not disclosed his interim conditions as part of the application. An Investigating Committee panel found a case to answer on 5 September 2024, and the substantive hearing followed.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Suspended for dishonesty. The particulars were found proved on the civil standard, including the panel’s dishonesty finding. No criminal proceedings feature in the published decision.

The particulars alleged that between 1 January and 27 February 2023, when applying for a role requiring HCPC registration, Okpalanwaka did not comply with his Interim Conditions of Practice Order: he did not inform Trust A that his registration was subject to conditions, and did not inform it of the specific conditions with which he had to comply. Particular 2 alleged dishonesty in that he sought to conceal from Trust A that his registration was subject to conditions, and presented false and incomplete information to the trust with a view to gaining employment. In its impairment reasoning the panel observed that dishonesty is attitudinal, noted that he had apologised and expressed remorse, and accepted there was no pattern of dishonesty or attitudinal issues. It nevertheless found that he had not yet taken full responsibility for his conduct or shown fully developed insight, which meant the risk of repetition remained.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The sanction decision weighed his apology and degree of remorse against the prominence of dishonesty in the case. The HCPC’s representative submitted that dishonesty is considered to be serious and evaporates trust, and that without trust there is no confidence in the profession; he also argued that lack of insight was aggravating, and that a registrant cannot remediate issues he has no insight into. The panel determined that a suspension order for twelve months was the appropriate and proportionate sanction, no lesser sanction protecting the public from the risk of repetition or maintaining confidence, and it directed that a future panel be assisted by his continued attendance and engagement, a detailed reflective statement on the impact of dishonesty on public protection and confidence, and evidence of training relating to professional standards. It considered the effect of the order on him personally but concluded his interests were outweighed by the duty to protect the public.

Current Status

Okpalanwaka is suspended from the register for twelve months from the date the order came into effect, with an interim suspension order of up to eighteen months covering the appeal period. He cannot practise as a radiographer while the order stands, and the conditions order that triggered the case was separately due to expire in mid-2024 on its own eighteen-month term. His return to unrestricted practice requires a reviewing panel to be satisfied on insight he has not yet demonstrated; the decision expressly requires a reflective statement addressing dishonesty before any review can properly assess him. The hearing record notes he attended, understood the HCPC’s interim-order application, and made no submissions against it.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The case turns on one of the least glamorous obligations in the regulator’s rulebook: an interim order’s notification condition, breached not by working while restricted but by silence on a job application. The panel’s reasoning marks concealment from a prospective employer as dishonesty of the attitudinal kind, the category the HCPC treats as most corrosive of public trust, while the eighteen-month interim order underneath it shows the case was already running on restrictions when the application was made. For NHS hiring pipelines, the decision records how the detection worked: the employer’s own services manager flagged the non-disclosure to the regulator, rather than the regulator discovering it. Okpalanwaka’s registration now carries a twelve-month suspension and a sustained dishonesty finding, and the route back runs through a reflective statement the panel found he has so far not delivered.

Sources

• HCPTS, “Kenneth Okpalanwaka — Final Hearing, Conduct and Competence Committee, Suspended,” October 2026. source