Nursing and Midwifery Council determination — substantive hearing
NMC panel imposes 18-month conditions order on nurse David Hancock over discriminatory posts
A Nursing and Midwifery Council panel has placed mental health nurse David John Hancock under 18 months of practice conditions after he admitted sharing discriminatory social media posts motivated by hostility towards people of a different race, gender reassignment or sexual orientation.
MedicWatch editorial · Published 11 August 2026 · Updated 31 August 2026
Conditions on practice (practising with restrictions) — 18 months
Added to MedicWatch: 17 August 2026Report a correction
What does “practising with restrictions” mean?
Conditions of practice allow the practitioner to keep working but only subject to specific restrictions — for example, supervision, limits on certain procedures, or required reporting to the regulator.
Concerning David John Hancock, nurse (Nursing and Midwifery Council 93C0223E).
Decision date: 11 August 2026 · Hearing started 5 August 2026 and ended 11 August 2026
In plain English
The NMC's Fitness to Practise Committee found that mental health nurse David John Hancock shared multiple offensive, derogatory and discriminatory posts on social media between May and June 2023, motivated by hostility or a discriminatory attitude towards people of a different race, gender reassignment or sexual orientation. He admitted both charges. The panel found his fitness to practise impaired and imposed a conditions of practice order for 18 months, with a review.
Charges
That you, a registered nurse: 1. Between May 2023 and June 2023, publicly shared multiple posts on social media which were: a. Offensive; b. Derogatory; c. Discriminatory. 2. Your conduct at charge 1 was motivated by your hostility or discriminatory attitude towards people of a different: a. race and/or b. gender reassignment and/or c. sexual orientation. And in light of the above, your fitness to practise is impaired by reason of your misconduct.
Findings
The panel found charges 1 and 2 proved in their entirety by way of Mr Hancock's admissions. It determined that his actions fell significantly short of the standards expected of a registered nurse and breached sections 20.1, 20.2, 20.3, 20.7, 20.8, 20.10 and 21.5 of the Code, and that each charge individually amounted to misconduct. The posts were shared in a public forum where he had identified himself as a mental health nurse, repeatedly over a two-month period. The panel found his fitness to practise currently impaired on both public protection and public interest grounds, concluding that his insight could not yet be deemed comprehensive and that a risk of repetition of hostility or discrimination remained. It imposed a conditions of practice order for 18 months with a review, together with an interim conditions of practice order for 18 months to cover the appeal period.
Mitigating and aggravating factors
Mitigating factors
The panel took into account: early admission of the facts; significant remorse demonstrated; acceptance from an early stage of responsibility for his actions and their impact; efforts to prevent similar things happening again, or any efforts to put problems right; deleting social media; evidence that he has been in full-time practice safely and without further incident for the past three years; multiple positive testimonials, including from colleagues; and the contents of his reflective document. One further mitigating factor was heard in private.
Aggravating factors
The panel took into account: repeated breaches of the Code; a pattern of misconduct which amounted to discrimination over a period of time; wilful recklessness in posting on social media; and that his actions would have had an impact on colleagues, patients, and the wider public who could have been deterred from using his services.
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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