Nursing and Midwifery Council determination — substantive hearing
NMC panel strikes off nurse Janet Burroughs over dishonest taking of medication
The Nursing and Midwifery Council's Fitness to Practise Committee has struck nurse Janet Valerie Burroughs off the register after finding she dishonestly took Lorazepam belonging to an Essex NHS trust to give to a relative, without clinical justification.
MedicWatch editorial · Published 14 May 2026 · Updated 10 July 2026
Erasure (struck off the register)
Added to MedicWatch: 10 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 Janet Valerie Burroughs, nurse (Nursing and Midwifery Council 71F1138E).
Decision date: 14 May 2026 · Hearing started 12 May 2026 and ended 14 May 2026
In plain English
The NMC's Fitness to Practise Committee found that Janet Valerie Burroughs, a nurse at an Essex NHS trust, dishonestly requested and took Lorazepam tablets belonging to the trust without clinical justification, intending to give them to a relative. The panel found her fitness to practise impaired and made a striking-off order, concluding the dishonesty and abuse of trust were incompatible with continued registration.
Charges
That, as a registered nurse on shift at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, she: (1) on or around 17 June 2024 and/or 19 June 2024 requested Lorazepam from a colleague without clinical justification, which she intended to take home to administer to her relative; (2) on one or more occasions between 1 May 2024 and 30 June 2024 took one or more Lorazepam tablets without clinical justification; and (3) her conduct was dishonest in that she intended to take and/or did take medication belonging to the Trust when she knew she was not entitled to do so.
Findings
The panel found all three charges proved, including dishonesty applying the test in Ivey v Genting. It found the conduct amounted to misconduct, with potential for harm to patients on the stroke unit and to her relative, and an abuse of her position of trust as an experienced nurse. Fitness to practise was found impaired on public protection and public interest grounds. The panel decided a striking-off order was the only sufficient sanction, noting Ms Burroughs had retired and stated she had no intention of returning to nursing. An 18-month interim suspension order was imposed to cover the appeal period.
Mitigating and aggravating factors
Mitigating factors
Ms Burroughs made early admissions to both the NMC and the Trust; she has shown remorse and made partial apologies; she has provided personal context for her circumstances at the time of the incidents. The panel also noted there were no previous concerns during her longstanding career as a nurse.
Aggravating factors
Stealing the medication meant there was the potential that there may not have been enough stock for patients; the actions were not an isolated incident; the actions amounted to an abuse of position of trust; the concerns are directly linked to her clinical practice.
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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