Nursing and Midwifery Council determination — substantive hearing
Suspension (suspended from practice) — 1 year
Added to MedicWatch: 27 April 2026Report a correction
What does “suspended from practice” mean?
A suspension is a fixed-term pause on the right to practise. The practitioner cannot work in the regulated profession during the suspension. At the end of the period the suspension may be extended, replaced with another sanction, or lifted on review.
Concerning Hazel Claire Pitches, nurse (Nursing and Midwifery Council 21A3766E).
Decision date: 19 March 2026 · Hearing started 2 March 2026 and ended 19 March 2026
In plain English
The NMC's Fitness to Practise Committee found that registered nurse Hazel Claire Pitches had shown a lack of competence in drug calculations and medication administration at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, and had committed misconduct involving insulin administration and documentation failures at two care homes. The panel found her fitness to practise was impaired and imposed a suspension order for 12 months with a review hearing at the end of that period. An interim suspension order of 18 months was also imposed.
Charges
The case concerned lack of competence and misconduct relating to Mrs Pitches' practice as a Band 5 Registered Nurse across three employers between November 2021 and June 2024. Charges 1-2: failing a Medicines Assessment at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust and being unable to perform drug calculations across multiple dates, plus errors during a mock medication assessment in January 2022. Charge 3: stating to a colleague at Kent Community Foundation Trust that she had no knowledge of an NMC referral. Charge 4: that the declaration in charge 3 was dishonest. Charges 5-6: [private]. Charges 7-13: insulin administration and documentation failures relating to Resident A at Silver Springs Care Home in August 2023. Charges 14-15: medication administration and record-keeping failures at L'Hermitage Care Home in May and June 2024.
Findings
Most charges were found proved, either by admission or after evidence; the panel found there was no case to answer on charges 5 and 6 in the form originally pleaded, but other limbs of those charges were found proved. Charge 4 (dishonesty) was not proved. The panel determined that the matters found proved amounted to a lack of competence (charges 1 and 2) and misconduct (charges 3 and 7-15), and that Mrs Pitches' fitness to practise was currently impaired on both public protection and public interest grounds. The panel found a real risk of serious harm to patients across multiple settings, with limited insight and a continuing risk of repetition.
Mitigating and aggravating factors
Mitigating factors
Early admission of the facts; engagement with the NMC process, including attendance and meaningful participation during the hearings; evidence of some remorse; [private].
Aggravating factors
Conduct which put people receiving care at risk of suffering harm; a pattern of a lack of competence and misconduct over a period of time; limited insight; failure to prioritise vulnerable patients.
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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