Nurse Struck Off After Patient Lover Dies in Car
Penelope Williams, a nurse at a Wrexham renal hemodialysis unit, has been struck off the nursing register after her secret lover, a patient, died in a car. Williams had worked as a registered nurse since October 2019 when the tragic incident happened.
Patient Found Unresponsive but No Ambulance Called
On the night of January 8, 2022, Patient A—a renal patient with heart issues—was discovered partially clothed in the back of a car. He later died from heart failure and chronic kidney disease, triggered by a medical episode. Crucially, Williams failed to call an ambulance as the patient became seriously unwell, a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) hearing revealed.
Secret Affair Comes to Light
Earlier that evening, Williams had been socialising at a colleague’s house. At nearly midnight, she called the colleague “crying and distressed,” hinting someone had died. The colleague found Patient A unresponsive in the car and was forced to call emergency services after Williams failed to do so. The patient’s trousers were down when paramedics arrived.
Williams initially denied any sexual relationship with the patient at a February health board meeting, claiming they were only chatting in the car before he suddenly ‘groaned and died.’
Disciplinary Hearings Expose Cover-Up
But during a May disciplinary hearing, Williams admitted to an intimate relationship with the patient—one she had kept secret from her employer. Last week, at an NMC panel hearing, Williams was hit with a striking-off order and an 18-month suspension.
The panel found her failure to disclose the affair, along with her poor regard for nursing standards and public safety, amounted to serious misconduct. Williams was struck off for bringing the nursing profession into disgrace.
