Nurse who put baby at ‘unwarranted risk of harm’ when working in Northampton struck off after failing to engage with watchdog
A Northampton nurse who put a baby at “unwarranted risk of harm” has been struck off, after showing “limited insight into her dishonesty” and failing to engage with the watchdog.
Elzabeth Lennon was subject to an order review hearing, held by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) on March 23, this year.
Mrs Lennon was not present or represented at the hearing and she chose not to provide any written submissions to the panel.
The nurse, who had a 22-year “unblemished” career up to an incident in 2022 while she was working in Northampton, was first subject to a fitness to practise committee panel hearing in September 2024, when a 12 month suspension order was imposed. This was reviewed in September 2025 and a further six month suspension was put in place, which is due to run out this month.
The suspension was initially put in place after Mrs Lennon failed to carry out her duty of care when caring for a baby while working as a registered nurse.
The charges found proven in the initial misconduct hearing include failing to check Baby A’s cannula site every hour, failing to investigate why Baby A’s fluids pump was alarming, failing to escalate the alarming, inappropriately raising the pressure of the pump and failing to accurately record the care given to Baby A.
The report said: “The panel found that Baby A was put at an unwarranted risk of harm, and it had sight of the physical harm caused to Baby A as a result of Mrs Lennon’s misconduct.”
The initial report added that Mrs Lennon has demonstrated “sufficient insight” into her clinical failings, had apologised to the family of Baby A and showed “genuine remorse” for her conduct. However, she showed “limited insight into her dishonesty”.
The original hearing panel decided a suspension order was most appropriate - rather than a striking off order - as they were satisfied that there was the prospect of Mrs Lennon “returning to practice without the reputation of the nursing profession being disproportionately damaged”.
Reviewing the decision this year, the new panel said due to Mrs Lennon’s lack of engagement with the NMC, they had seen nothing to suggest that the nurse’s levels of insight into her dishonesty had changed.
The review panel hearing report said: “There is nothing before today’s panel to indicate that Mrs Lennon’s levels of insight have changed.
“There is no information before the panel to suggest that Mrs Lennon has undertaken relevant training to maintain her clinical skills.
“Due to the lack of engagement and no new information presented before the panel, there is an ongoing risk of repetition and therefore Mrs Lennon’s fitness to practise remains impaired on the grounds of public protection and public interest.”
The panel concluded that a striking off order was the most appropriate sanction due to Mrs Lennon’s “limited engagement and/or insight” and because she has made “no or negligible progress towards addressing issues with her fitness to practice”.
The striking off order will come into effect on Thursday April 23.