Natalie Croarkin
Introduction
Natalie Croarkin is a mental health nurse who worked for Lancaster and Southern Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust, a forerunner of the current Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust, and who was struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) in 2026. A fitness to practise panel found that in or around 2015 she entered into a romantic relationship with a vulnerable former service user referred to in the proceedings as Patient A, repeatedly accessed Patient A’s confidential medical records without any clinical reason, and then lied during her employer’s 2022 investigation into the relationship. It took eleven years for the case to come before the NMC. The panel made a striking-off order, backed by an 18-month interim suspension pending any appeal.
Background Information
Croarkin was employed as a registered mental health nurse with Lancaster and Southern Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust, the forerunner of today’s Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust, when the events at issue took place in or around 2015. The relationship remained hidden for years: it came to light only when a different patient revealed it. That prompted concerns about a previous relationship between Croarkin and Patient A, an internal Trust investigation in 2022, and a referral to the NMC in November 2022 — eleven years after the conduct itself.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Adjudicated regulatory findings. An NMC fitness to practise panel found the romantic relationship with a vulnerable former patient, the unexplained records access and the investigation dishonesty proved, and struck Croarkin off. These are regulatory findings, not criminal charges; the panel was expressly not satisfied the relationship was proven to be sexual.
At a hearing in 2026, the panel found proved that in or around 2015 Croarkin: entered into a relationship with Patient A, described in the proceedings as “a vulnerable service user”; arranged to meet Patient A in a social setting following her discharge from care; stayed overnight at Patient A’s house; and told Patient A that she was developing “inappropriate feelings” for her. The panel concluded the pair had entered into a romantic relationship, but it was not satisfied there was enough evidence to prove the allegations that the relationship was sexual — a distinction worth noting given that some coverage was headlined around a “sexual relationship”.
The hearing also examined Croarkin’s access to Patient A’s confidential medical records over a number of years. The panel found she accessed them without a clinical reason on multiple occasions between June and November 2015, on 17 January 2016, and during Patient A’s admission to Burnley General Hospital between 1 and 24 March 2016. During that March 2016 admission, the panel found, Croarkin had no clinical involvement with Patient A and was not even working at the hospital, so there was no clinical justification for opening her records.
The third strand was dishonesty during the Trust’s 2022 investigation. The panel found Croarkin lied about how she first met Patient A and about the extent of the relationship; initially denied having been at Patient A’s house; described Patient A as an acquaintance before later accepting they were friends; gave a contradicting account of events; and denied having had contact with Patient A after 2015 before later admitting to clinical contact. It concluded these actions were dishonest and intended to conceal the nature and extent of the relationship.
The panel heard evidence from Patient A that Croarkin’s conduct had caused her significant harm: it took her several years to trust another healthcare professional, despite her own awareness of her difficulties, and the experience left her reluctant to seek professional help in the years that followed. On Croarkin’s own side, the panel determined that while there was some insight into why the relationship was inappropriate, “it is limited and largely recent.”
Public Reaction and Consequences
The panel found the combination of Croarkin’s conduct, her dishonesty and the nature and extent of the relationship fell seriously short of the conduct and standards expected of a registered nurse and amounted to misconduct. It said her conduct breached the fundamental tenets of the nursing profession, brought the profession’s reputation into disrepute, and that confidence in the profession would be undermined if the regulator did not treat the charges as extremely serious. The relationship with a vulnerable person was described as a significant breach of professional boundaries and trust, and the panel ruled her fitness to practise impaired.
The panel did accept mitigation arising from the passage of time: a lengthy period had elapsed since the events, Croarkin had continued her professional development, and there was no evidence of similar concerns arising later in her career. But it concluded her insight remained incomplete and that there was a continuing risk of repetition, that a suspension order would not be sufficient to maintain public confidence, and that nothing short of a striking-off order would adequately protect the public, maintain confidence and uphold proper standards. The combination of a romantic relationship with a vulnerable patient, inappropriate records access and investigation dishonesty was, it found, fundamentally incompatible with remaining on the nursing register.
Oliver Soriano, chief nurse officer at Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust, said staff “hold positions of significant trust and responsibility” and are expected to uphold the highest professional standards within boundaries that exist to protect and support patients. “Any breach of those standards, including the inappropriate access of patient records, is wholly unacceptable and represents a serious failure of that trust,” he said, adding that although the case was from many years ago, before the current Trust was formed, it would “reflect and learn from what happened”.
Current Status
Croarkin has been struck off the NMC register. She has 28 days from the panel’s decision on 23 September 2026 to appeal; an 18-month interim suspension order remains in place while any appeal is resolved, and if no appeal is lodged the striking-off order takes effect when the appeal period expires. Unless she successfully appeals, she cannot work as a registered nurse in the UK.
Impact on Their Career/Life
The striking-off order ends Croarkin’s nursing career in the UK, at least unless an appeal succeeds, and the findings — a romantic relationship with a vulnerable former patient, years of unexplained access to that patient’s medical records, and dishonesty designed to conceal both — now form part of the permanent public record of NMC action. The panel’s view that her insight was “limited and largely recent” and that a risk of repetition remained is on the record alongside the findings themselves. The case also documents the cost to the patient: evidence that the experience damaged her trust in healthcare professionals for years and made her reluctant to seek professional help.