Penelope Williams

Introduction

Penelope Williams is a married nurse who worked for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board and who has been struck off the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register after a secret sexual relationship with a dialysis patient, identified only as Patient A, who died during a liaison with her. Williams did not call an ambulance when Patient A collapsed; a colleague who came to resuscitate him called 999 instead. She was sacked by the Health Board and subsequently removed from the register for bringing the profession into disrepute. The strike-off was reported by LBC on 4 July 2023.

Background Information

Williams, 42, began working for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board as a registered nurse in a renal haemodialysis unit in October 2019. Patient A regularly attended the unit for dialysis treatment, and a fitness to practise panel heard that a secret sexual relationship between the pair started in January 2021.

The relationship was kept from the Health Board and became known through the night Patient A died — a night on which Williams gave shifting accounts, first to police and a paramedic, then to her employer.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated vs. alleged. The findings against Williams were regulatory adjudications made by a Nursing and Midwifery Council fitness to practise panel on the civil standard (the balance of probabilities), not criminal convictions, and no criminal proceedings were reported. Her admissions at the Health Board’s local disciplinary hearing — the sexual relationship and her failure to call an ambulance — were admitted by Williams herself. The man who died is identified in the proceedings only as Patient A.

On the night of Patient A’s death, the pair were having a secret liaison in a car when he suddenly groaned and blacked out. Williams called another nurse — known as Colleague 1 — to resuscitate her lover, but did not dial 999. Colleague 1 told her to call an ambulance and went to the car park herself, where she found Patient A partially clothed and unresponsive.

The presenting officer told the fitness to practise hearing: “She could see a man in the back of a car who was Patient A. Colleague 1 went to check Patient A who was unresponsive so she called 999 asking for the police and ambulance as Mrs Williams had not already called for an ambulance which Colleague 1 had suggested during their phone call.” The 999 call handler advised Colleague 1 to perform CPR. When they took Patient A out of the car his trousers were down. Patient A subsequently died from heart failure and chronic kidney disease triggered by a medical episode.

Williams initially told police and a paramedic in attendance that she had gone to the scene to meet Patient A after he messaged her on Facebook that he was unwell. In a later statement to police, she admitted that the pair were in a sexual relationship and had previously arranged to meet at the car park that evening. She denied this in a formal meeting with the Health Board in February, explaining that “she met with Patient A and sat at the back of his car for about 30-45 minutes just talking” before he started groaning and suddenly died. At a local disciplinary hearing with the Health Board in May, Mrs Williams admitted to the relationship and not calling an ambulance even after being advised to. She was sacked with “immediate effect”.

Public Reaction and Consequences

Mrs Williams was ultimately struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council for bringing the profession into disrepute. The panel concluded: “Mrs Williams’ actions were significant departures from the standards expected of a registered nurse, and are fundamentally incompatible with her remaining on the register.”

It was the panel’s view that the findings in the case demonstrated that Mrs Williams’ actions were so serious that to allow her to continue practising would undermine public confidence in the profession and in the NMC as a regulatory body. The Nursing and Midwifery Council has apologised for its error in identifying the site of the incident.

Current Status

Williams is struck off the NMC register, which she needed to be on to work as a registered nurse in the UK. She had been sacked by Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board with “immediate effect” at the local disciplinary stage in May, in the year of Patient A’s death, and the strike-off was reported by LBC on 4 July 2023, with the article updated in February 2026. No further proceedings were reported.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The striking-off order ends Williams’ registered nursing career, closing off not just her post in the renal haemodialysis unit but any UK nursing role, since registration with the NMC is a legal requirement in order to practise. The panel’s conclusions — that her actions were “significant departures from the standards expected of a registered nurse” and “fundamentally incompatible with her remaining on the register”, and that allowing her to continue practising would undermine public confidence in the profession and in the NMC as a regulatory body — left removal from the register as the outcome.

The record that ended her career included what she admitted at the local disciplinary hearing: the sexual relationship with a patient who attended the unit where she worked, and not calling an ambulance even after being advised to — conduct set against her earlier account to police and a paramedic of a Facebook message, her admission in a later statement, and her denial at the formal Health Board meeting in February.