Suzanne Tuffnell
Introduction
Suzanne Tuffnell is a nurse who was registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), holding registration number 07G1261E. On 25 August 2026, at the conclusion of a substantive hearing that had begun on 18 June 2026, an NMC panel directed that she be struck off the register after finding her fitness to practise currently impaired.
The decision combined workplace conduct findings with patient-safety concerns: the panel found bullying and harassment of a colleague alongside a pattern of leaving a clinical unit without adequate communication, and it identified limited insight, little meaningful remediation and a real risk of repetition. A separate interim suspension covers the appeal period.
Background Information
At the time of the hearing Tuffnell was a senior, experienced nurse with leadership responsibilities. The panel treated that standing as an aggravating feature of the case, alongside a pattern of misconduct over a period of time that continued despite being brought to her attention twice.
The charges before the panel concerned bullying and harassment of a colleague through derogatory remarks, intimidating behaviour and unwanted physical contact. They also concerned her repeatedly leaving a clinical unit without informing staff or being contactable, in a setting where the panel found her conduct put vulnerable children at risk of harm.
Separate allegations concerned supervision and the handling of a colleague’s private circumstances. Those allegations were examined alongside the harassment and absence charges and produced a mixed set of findings: two particulars were not proved, and two proved particulars fell below the threshold of serious misconduct.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Adjudicated vs. alleged. The findings summarised here were made on the balance of probabilities by an NMC fitness-to-practise panel and are not criminal convictions; charges 10 and 14a were not proved, and proved particulars 14b and 14c, though established, did not amount to serious misconduct.
The charges alleged bullying and harassment of a colleague through derogatory remarks, intimidating behaviour and unwanted physical contact, as well as repeatedly leaving a clinical unit without informing staff or being contactable. Separate allegations concerned supervision and the handling of a colleague’s private circumstances.
In its findings, the panel determined that charges 10 and 14a were not proved. The remaining particulars were proved, but harassment under charge 15 was proved only in relation to charges 2–9 and 11–13.
Particulars 14b and 14c were proved, but the panel found they “did not reach the serious-misconduct threshold”. The other relevant proved conduct amounted to misconduct, with current impairment on public protection and public interest grounds.
On that foundation the panel found limited insight, little meaningful remediation and a real risk of repetition. Those conclusions drove both the impairment finding and the sanction that followed.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The panel found continuing impairment on both public protection and public interest grounds, and it directed erasure as the outcome. Its reasoning placed weight on the absence of meaningful remediation and the identified risk of repetition, given that the conduct had persisted even after it had been raised with her on two earlier occasions.
The panel set out aggravating factors: her conduct put vulnerable children at risk of harm; she has shown little insight or remediation; there was a pattern of misconduct over a period of time, continuing despite being brought to her attention twice; and she was a senior, experienced nurse with leadership responsibilities. Mitigating factors included evidence of attendance at a relevant training course on bullying and harassment in the work place and four positive testimonials expressing appreciation of her work. The panel also noted Mrs Tuffnell’s account that she had a stressful period at work, had been dealing with a private personal matter and had suffered a recent bereavement, but it decided to apply limited weight to this as there was an absence of corroborating material or supporting evidence.
Current Status
The panel ordered striking off and a separate 18-month interim suspension covering the appeal period. Absent appeal, striking off takes effect 28 days after written notice.
Erasure means her name is removed from the NMC register, so she may no longer practise as a registered nurse in the United Kingdom. Her current registration status can be checked on the official NMC register.
Impact on Their Career/Life
The erasure ends Tuffnell’s ability to work as a registered nurse in the United Kingdom, removing the registration that underpinned a senior nursing career with leadership responsibilities. The four positive testimonials expressing appreciation of her work and her attendance at training on bullying and harassment did not alter the panel’s conclusion that insight and remediation remained limited.
Sources
- MedicWatch, “NMC orders Suzanne Tuffnell struck off after bullying and patient-safety findings,” 25 August 2026.source