Richard Bartley

Introduction

Richard Bartley is a registered adult nurse who was struck off the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register after a Fitness to Practise Committee found that, across seven months in 2022, he repeatedly concealed from a new employer the fact that he was under disciplinary investigation by a former employer. The panel found the concealment — sustained through a telephone screening interview, a security vetting form and his employment as a Functional Assessor at the Centre for Health and Disability Assessments (CHDA) — was dishonest, amounted to serious professional misconduct, and left his fitness to practise currently impaired. It made a striking-off order on 22 June 2026, with an 18-month interim suspension to cover the appeal period. The findings were made on the civil standard applied in regulatory proceedings; the determination records no criminal conviction.

Background Information

Bartley was registered with the NMC under pin number 09H2953E. He had previously worked for the Salford Care Organisation, and it was a disciplinary investigation by that former employer that the panel found he had concealed. By the time of the charges he was an experienced Band 7 nurse, a level of seniority the panel said meant he would have understood the professional standards expected of him.

In early 2022 he applied for, and then took up, the role of Functional Assessor at the Centre for Health and Disability Assessments. The panel found this role required “a particularly high degree of honesty, integrity and trust”. His case was heard at a substantive hearing that ran from 18 June 2026 to 22 June 2026, with the decision dated 22 June 2026.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated vs. alleged. The findings against Richard Bartley were made by an NMC Fitness to Practise Committee on the civil standard (balance of probabilities). They were never criminal charges, and the determination records no criminal conviction. Charge 4 was expressly not proved.

The charges concerned the period between 26 January 2022 and 25 August 2022, during which Bartley applied for the role of, and was employed as, Functional Assessor at CHDA without disclosing that he was subject to a disciplinary investigation by his former employer, the Salford Care Organisation. The panel found the non-disclosure proved in three settings: during a telephone screening interview, in his Baseline Personnel Security Standard Application Form, and during his employment. In the application form he also provided Person 1’s details as his supervisor. Charges 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8 were found proved; charge 4, which concerned non-disclosure during a 2 February 2022 interview, was found not proved.

In its findings, the panel concluded that Bartley “repeatedly and deliberately failed to disclose an ongoing disciplinary investigation when directly asked during recruitment”, provided inaccurate referee information “presenting a friend as his Matron and supervisor”, and “continued the non-disclosure during his employment”. It found his actions were dishonest by the standards of ordinary decent people and that they were motivated by an intention to conceal the disciplinary investigation from CHDA. The panel determined that the facts proved amounted to serious professional misconduct and that his fitness to practise is currently impaired on both public protection and public interest grounds.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The consequences were regulatory rather than reputational in the first instance: the panel moved directly from findings of dishonesty and misconduct to sanction. In mitigation it weighed that Bartley has no previous NMC fitness to practise findings against him, and that he had experienced a bereavement during an early stage of the NMC investigation, which the panel considered may have had some impact upon his engagement with the process.

Against that, the panel set out an extended list of aggravating factors: a pattern of misconduct over a period of time; multiple opportunities to disclose the disciplinary investigation, which he chose not to take; “no evidence demonstrating insight”; premeditated behaviour and a deliberate attempt to conceal relevant information from a prospective employer; deliberately incorrect information about his referee; misconduct connected to personal gain; attitudinal concerns relating to honesty and integrity; and a “failure to communicate, attend hearings and engage in the fitness to practise process without good reason”. It also noted his experience as a Band 7 nurse and the particular honesty the Functional Assessor role demanded. On that basis the panel made a striking-off order and imposed an 18-month interim suspension order to cover the appeal period.

Current Status

Bartley is struck off the NMC register — what the regulator calls erasure — and is no longer permitted to practise as a nurse in the UK. Erasure can be reviewed after a minimum of five years, but is otherwise indefinite. The 18-month interim suspension order was imposed to cover the appeal period following the striking-off order made on 22 June 2026. The published determination does not record any appeal outcome, and it stands as the record of the charges proved, the charges not proved, and the sanction imposed.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The striking-off order removes Bartley from the register and ends his ability to work as a registered nurse in the UK unless erasure is successfully reviewed after the minimum five-year period. The findings go to honesty rather than clinical competence: what the panel found proved was a sustained decision to conceal a disciplinary investigation from a prospective employer, repeated when directly asked at multiple points across recruitment and employment, together with referee information that presented a friend as his Matron and supervisor.

The panel connected the misconduct to personal gain and found his behaviour premeditated, and it identified no evidence demonstrating insight. It also recorded that he failed to communicate, attend hearings and engage in the fitness to practise process without good reason, while acknowledging that a bereavement during an early stage of the investigation may have had some impact on that engagement. For a nurse found to have deceived an employer whose role demanded a particularly high degree of honesty, integrity and trust, the sanction leaves him outside the profession indefinitely, subject only to review after five years.

Sources

• MedicWatch, “Richard Bartley — Struck off the register · 22 June 2026”, 22 June 2026.source