Thomas George

Introduction

Thomas George is a registered nurse in New South Wales whose registration was cancelled after the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal found proven a complaint that on 3 September 2022, while working at Norwest Private Hospital, he inappropriately restrained a patient using a bedsheet, failed to consult the medical officer on duty or the team leader, failed to conduct an adequate handover, and failed to maintain adequate records of the patient’s condition — and that on 5 December 2022 he telephoned the complainant and inappropriately confronted her about her complaint. In its decision of 1 May 2025 the Tribunal found the complaint proven, found him guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct and professional misconduct, cancelled his registration with a twelve-month non-review period and prohibited him from providing a health service for twelve months.

Background Information

George worked as a registered nurse at Norwest Private Hospital, a major private hospital in Sydney’s north-west. The events that ended his registration unfolded in two acts five weeks apart: the night in September 2022 when he restrained a patient with a bedsheet without clinical authority and bypassed the normal chain of clinical escalation, and the December phone call in which he confronted the patient about the complaint she had made — a form of reprisal that regulators treat as an aggravating breach in its own right. The Health Care Complaints Commission prosecuted the matter before the Tribunal.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Tribunal findings. The findings below are the formal adjudications of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal in a case prosecuted by the Health Care Complaints Commission. They were found proven in the Tribunal’s decision of 1 May 2025. The sources report no criminal proceedings arising from the conduct.

It was alleged that on 3 September 2022, while working at Norwest Private Hospital, George restrained a patient inappropriately using a bedsheet, failed to consult with the medical officer on duty or the team leader, failed to conduct an adequate handover, and failed to maintain adequate records of the patient’s condition. It was further alleged that on 5 December 2022 he made a phone call to the complainant and inappropriately confronted her about her complaint. In its decision of 1 May 2025 the Tribunal found the complaint proven, found him guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct and professional misconduct, cancelled his registration with a non-review period of twelve months and prohibited him from providing a health service for twelve months.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The Health Care Complaints Commission published its media release announcing the outcome on 17 June 2026, more than a year after the Tribunal’s decision — the publication lag typical of the Commission’s 2026 release schedule. The twin sanctions run in parallel: cancellation of registration with a twelve-month non-review period, and a twelve-month prohibition on providing any health service, covering unregistered care work as well as nursing. The confrontation call was central to the seriousness of the findings: a nurse telephoning the patient who complained about him is the kind of conduct that converts a clinical-standards case into a professional-misconduct finding with a cancellation.

Current Status

George’s registration is cancelled, with the non-review period of twelve months running from the Tribunal’s 1 May 2025 decision, and the matching prohibition order expiring alongside it. After the non-review period he may seek review, but the findings — inappropriate restraint, failures of clinical escalation and record-keeping, and confronting a complainant — would frame any assessment of his present fitness. The sources report no public response from George and no appeal.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The case documents both halves of a nursing-standard failure: the clinical half, where a vulnerable patient was restrained by bedsheet without authority and without the safeguards of consultation, handover and records; and the ethical half, where the nurse went after the patient who reported him. For NSW nurses the decision is a published example that complaint-related reprisals carry registration consequences as serious as the underlying conduct. George’s cancellation, published in 2026, remains part of the Commission’s public record of disciplinary outcomes.

Sources

• NSW Health Care Complaints Commission, “Mr Thomas George – Registered Nurse – Cancellation and prohibition order for unsatisfactory professional conduct and professional misconduct,” 17 June 2026 — source