Nursing and Midwifery Council determination — review hearing
NMC panel strikes off nurse Ian O'Connor who altered patients' early-warning scores
The Nursing and Midwifery Council has ordered the removal of nurse Ian O'Connor from the register after a review panel found he remained impaired, having changed two patients' early-warning scores and failed to escalate their condition in 2020. The order takes effect on 2 June 2026.
MedicWatch editorial · Published 23 April 2026 · Updated 11 July 2026
Erasure (struck off the register)
Added to MedicWatch: 11 July 2026Report a correction
What does “struck off the register” mean?
Being struck off (the regulator calls this "erasure") removes the practitioner from the register. They are no longer permitted to practise this profession in the UK. Erasure can be reviewed after a minimum of five years, but is otherwise indefinite.
Concerning Ian O'Connor, nurse (Nursing and Midwifery Council 99I0580S).
Decision date: 23 April 2026 · Hearing started 23 April 2026
In plain English
The NMC's Fitness to Practise Committee found that Ian O'Connor's fitness to practise remained impaired at a review of his suspension order. The original 2020 charges, found proved in 2024, involved changing two patients' early-warning scores, failing to record or escalate their condition, and failing to make his own observations. Having received no evidence of insight or engagement, the panel replaced the suspension with a striking-off order taking effect on 2 June 2026.
Charges
That, on 18 August 2020, as a registered nurse, he: changed Patient A's NEWS score from 8 to 6 and Patient B's NEWS score from 7 to 5; failed to record that conduct; failed to assess and/or undertake his own observations; failed to escalate the patients' condition to senior management and/or a doctor; and carried a hospital bleep on his own, despite a requirement to be in the company of another nurse at all times. All charges were found proved.
Findings
At this second review of a substantive suspension order first imposed on 1 August 2024, the panel found Mr O'Connor's fitness to practise remains impaired on public protection and public interest grounds. It received no new information demonstrating insight, remorse or strengthened practice, noted his non-engagement since March 2025, and concluded a further period of suspension would serve no useful purpose. It imposed a striking-off order taking effect at the end of 2 June 2026 under Article 30(1).
Source
All facts on this page are drawn from the publicly published Nursing and Midwifery Council determination linked below. MedicWatch does not editorialise the regulator’s findings.
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