Prison nurse struck off over smuggling drugs into jail

A prison nurse who was jailed over a drug smuggling operation has been struck off.

A Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) hearing was told Keira Burton had been convicted for her role in smuggling cannabis, spice, ketamine, phones and SIM cards into HMP Preston and jailed for 20 months in March 2025.

The fitness to practise panel concluded Burton's actions represented a significant departure from the standards expected of a registered nurse and were fundamentally incompatible with her remaining on the register.

She said she "fully accepted" that she had "lost a career that I loved and worked extremely hard for, for many years".

Burton, who became a registered nurse in 2013, was arrested in December 2023, when she was found in a van outside the prison with drugs, cash and a pair of shoes that had hollowed-out spaces in them.

The panel noted that she had placed inmate patients who could have used the drugs at risk of harm.

It found that Burton acted "so as to put patients at unwarranted risk of harm".

The report cited sentencing comments from the judge in Burton's case, noting he had told her: "You have, in fact, rehabilitated yourself, but I keep coming back to your position in prison and the part that you played in this conspiracy and the onward supply was often done whilst you, Miss Burton, were engaged in your clinical duties.

"Your role in prison was to help vulnerable people, not to furnish them with poison that would accelerate their decline."

The panel determined Burton's criminal behaviour brought the nursing profession into disrepute.

It also found she had undermined the high standards expected of registered nurses and breached the fundamental tenets of the nursing profession, which included acting in the best interests of people at all times, preserving safety and keeping to the laws of the country in which she was practising.

The panel took into account Burton had signed an "agreed removal admissions form" in September, in which she indicated her admission to the regulatory concerns against her.

It also considered Burton's written statement in support of her application for agreed removal from the NMC register.

It said: 'I take full responsibility for my actions in this crime and fully understand that my behaviour and poor choices, whether through coercion or not, gave the NMC no option but to suspend my registration.

"In over a decade within the NHS I have never had a single complaint or issue raised about my practice prior to this, something which my professional and character references provided in January 2024 confirm.

She added: "I deeply regret my actions and that I have tarnished an otherwise perfect career and have associated the NMC with my actions, but I have also accepted that I will never again work within healthcare."

Burton, who said she had a new career outside of nursing, has 28 days to appeal against the decision.

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