Laura Coulbeck
Introduction
Laura Coulbeck is a UK nurse who was removed from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register in May 2026 after a fitness-to-practise panel found that she had dishonestly obtained paid leave from her employer on two separate pretences: a close family bereavement that never happened and a pregnancy-related illness reported when she was not pregnant. The NMC’s Fitness to Practise Committee concluded a substantive hearing on 19 May 2026 by directing erasure — commonly described as being struck off the register — and ordered an 18-month interim suspension to run pending any appeal. MedicWatch, an independent record of published UK healthcare regulators’ decisions that is not affiliated with any regulator, summarised the finding: she had “acted dishonestly by falsely telling her employer she had suffered a close family bereavement, for which she received paid compassionate leave”, and had reported “pregnancy-related illness when she was not pregnant, for which she received paid sick leave”.
Background Information
MedicWatch’s practitioner profile records Laura Coulbeck as a nurse registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council under PIN 20F0812E, with a stated specialty of adult nurse (level 1). The published determination does not name her employer, and nothing in the charges concerned clinical care; the case arose entirely from leave claims made to that employer. The first claim, made in September 2021, concerned paid compassionate leave following an alleged close family bereavement. The second, made in the summer of 2022, concerned paid sick leave for a reported pregnancy-related illness.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Adjudicated vs. alleged. The findings in this section come from a Nursing and Midwifery Council fitness-to-practise panel determination, which decided the charges on the balance of probabilities. Charges found proved are court-of-record-equivalent regulatory findings; every charge against Laura Coulbeck was found proved and none failed. Panels do not convict; nothing here is a criminal conviction unless the determination itself records one.
At the substantive hearing, held on 18 and 19 May 2026, the panel considered two charges. The first was that on 26 September 2021 she told her employer she had suffered a close family bereavement and, from 26 September to 10 October 2021, was paid compassionate leave, dishonestly, in that she had not suffered a bereavement and knew she was not entitled to the leave. The second was that on one or more dates between 15 June 2022 and 7 August 2022 she reported a pregnancy-related illness to her employer and was paid sick leave, dishonestly, in that she was not pregnant at the material times. The panel found all of the facts proved on the balance of probabilities, and all charges proved.
It went on to find that the proved facts amounted to misconduct, describing “repeated, deliberate dishonesty in two separate contexts, concerning highly emotive matters”, which “took advantage of the compassion and goodwill of colleagues and managers”. Among the aggravating factors it listed were dishonesty that was premeditated and for personal gain, “abuse of a position of trust by taking advantage of the good nature of others”, deliberate breaches of the Code, no expression of remorse, failure to engage in the fitness to practise process, and an absence of insight and remediation. In mitigation, the panel recorded that Ms Coulbeck had made some admissions at the local level; a second mitigating feature was noted in private.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The published sources record the regulator’s response rather than any wider public reaction; MedicWatch states that it “does not editorialise the regulator’s findings”. The concrete consequence was the sanction itself. Having found no evidence of direct patient harm or clinical concerns, the panel did not consider impairment necessary on public protection grounds, but held her fitness to practise currently impaired on public interest grounds, citing the absence of insight, remorse and remediation and a significant risk of repetition. On that basis the committee imposed a striking-off order, with an 18-month interim suspension pending any appeal. The outcome is now publicly listed among NMC erasures on MedicWatch.
Current Status
The erasure decision is dated 19 May 2026, from a hearing that began on 18 May and ended on 19 May 2026. The striking-off direction takes effect as set out in the decision, which also records the appeal provisions; MedicWatch advises readers to check the official NMC register for the practitioner’s current registration status. The interim suspension was set at 18 months pending any appeal. Coulbeck’s MedicWatch profile, last verified against the NMC register on 16 July 2026, recorded her as registered at that last check. The determination was added to MedicWatch’s database on 10 July 2026.
Impact on Their Career/Life
A striking-off order directs removal from the NMC register, which ends a nurse’s registration and, with it, the ability to work as a registered nurse in the United Kingdom, subject to the appeal provisions recorded in the decision. For Coulbeck, the findings that form part of her regulatory record are of deliberate dishonesty in two separate contexts, for personal gain, and in abuse of a position of trust — a pattern of misconduct over a period of time that the panel treated as involving deliberate breaches of the Code. The panel was clear that no clinical concerns or direct patient harm were identified, so the erasure rested on dishonesty and the public interest rather than on the safety of her nursing practice. It also weighed against her the failure to engage in the fitness to practise process, alongside the limited mitigation of her local-level admissions and one further mitigating feature recorded in private.