Nursing and Midwifery Council determination — substantive hearing
NMC panel strikes off nurse Joseph Lewis over misappropriation of charity funds
A Nursing and Midwifery Council panel has struck mental health nurse Joseph Lewis off the register after finding he dishonestly misappropriated around £500 raised for charity and stored in a safe at the Brighton and Hove Clinic, where he worked.
MedicWatch editorial · Published 30 June 2026 · Updated 9 July 2026
Erasure (struck off the register)
Added to MedicWatch: 9 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 Joseph Lewis, nurse (Nursing and Midwifery Council 12F2332E).
Decision date: 30 June 2026 · Hearing started 29 June 2026 and ended 30 June 2026
In plain English
The NMC's Fitness to Practise Committee found that mental health nurse Joseph Lewis misappropriated around £500 raised for charity, which he had stored in a locked safe at the Brighton and Hove Clinic, and acted dishonestly. The panel found his fitness to practise impaired on public interest grounds and made a striking-off order, with an 18-month interim suspension to cover any appeal period.
Charges
That you, a registered nurse: 1) On a date between 15 December 2023 and 4 March 2024, misappropriated money designated for charity that had been stored by you in a locked safe at your place of employment. 2) Your conduct at charge 1 was dishonest in that: a) You misappropriated the money for your own personal use and/or financial gain. b) You knew that the money was intended to benefit one or more charity.
Findings
The panel found charges 1, 2a and 2b proved on the balance of probabilities. It concluded that Mr Lewis misappropriated approximately £500 of charity funds stored in a locked safe at the Brighton and Hove Clinic, and that his conduct was dishonest under the Ivey test. The panel found the facts amounted to misconduct in breach of the Code and that his fitness to practise is currently impaired on public interest grounds.
Mitigating and aggravating factors
Mitigating factors
The panel concluded that there are no mitigating circumstances in this case.
Aggravating factors
Abuse of a position of trust; deliberate breaches of the Code; failure to engage in the Fitness to Practise process, without good reason; absence of insight; premeditated behaviour; abuse of a position of power; no evidence that the money has been repaid to the charity.
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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