Nursing and Midwifery Council determination — substantive hearing

NMC panel suspends nurse Obinna Onwukwe for nine months over professional boundary breaches

A Nursing and Midwifery Council panel has suspended nurse Obinna Onwukwe for nine months after finding he breached professional boundaries and patient confidentiality by contacting two patients without clinical justification. Allegations of sexual touching and sexual motivation were not proved.

MedicWatch editorial · Published 22 May 2026 · Updated 10 July 2026

Suspension (suspended from practice) — 9 months

Added to MedicWatch: 10 July 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 Obinna Julius Onwukwe, nurse (Nursing and Midwifery Council 22B1776O).

Decision date: 22 May 2026 · Hearing started 18 May 2026 and ended 22 May 2026

In plain English

The NMC's Fitness to Practise Committee found that nurse Obinna Julius Onwukwe contacted one patient on social media and phoned another after taking his number from clinical records, all without clinical justification, breaching professional boundaries and patient confidentiality. Allegations of sexual touching and sexual motivation were found not proved. The panel found his fitness to practise impaired and suspended him for nine months, with an 18-month interim suspension covering any appeal period.

Charges

That you, a registered nurse: (1) on or around 17 May 2023 behaved inappropriately towards Patient A by suggesting he meet you outside working hours and using words including 'we can meet up at yours or mine and have good sex' [not proved]; (2) touched Patient A's penis on one or more occasion without clinical justification [not proved]; (3) failed to maintain professional boundaries by contacting Patient A through social media platforms between 25 May and 25 June 2023 without consent or clinical justification [proved by admission]; (4) on or around 5 September 2022 behaved inappropriately towards Patient B by (a) touching and/or stroking his shoulder without consent or clinical justification [proved by admission], (b) referring to him as a 'cute boy' [proved by admission], and (c) asking if he was a footballer as he was 'really cute' [no evidence offered]; (5) breached patient confidentiality by accessing Patient B's clinical records and/or taking his mobile number without authority or clinical justification [proved by admission]; (6) called Patient B on his mobile without clinical justification [proved by admission]; (7) your conduct was sexually motivated [not proved].

Findings

The panel found charges 3, 4a, 4b, 5 and 6 proved by way of admission; charges 1, 2 and 7 (sexual motivation) were found not proved, and the NMC offered no evidence on charge 4c. The panel found the conduct at charges 3, 5 and 6 amounted to misconduct, noting the contact with Patient A on social media was a repetition of conduct for which Mr Onwukwe had already received employer disciplinary action over Patient B. It found limited insight, insufficient remediation and a risk of repetition, and determined his fitness to practise is impaired on both public protection and public interest grounds. The panel imposed a suspension order for nine months, to be reviewed before expiry, and an interim suspension order for 18 months to cover any appeal period.

Mitigating factors

Early admission of the facts; undertook some relevant training courses.

Aggravating factors

Two separate instances of breaching professional boundaries, the second after having been disciplined and warned for the first; the vulnerability of Patient A, and that the misconduct caused him psychological harm; abuse of a position of trust; limited insight and remediation.

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.

Spot something incorrect?

If a fact on this page is wrong, or you believe the page should not be published, please submit a correction or takedown request.