Overview
- An NMC tribunal on Thursday ruled Levi Whalley should remain on the nursing register but be suspended for 12 months rather than struck off.
- Border Force officers arrested Whalley at Birmingham Airport in December 2023 after finding 38 packages weighing 19kg in her suitcase as part of a haul of more than 35kg between two travellers.
- She was convicted of drug smuggling in February 2025 and given a 16-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months at Preston Crown Court in April 2025.
- The tribunal accepted Whalley’s evidence about facing “very difficult” personal circumstances at the time, noting her cooperation with the regulator and that she has not practised as a nurse since her December 2023 suspension.
- The case highlights a wider tension for regulators between protecting patients and allowing rehabilitation, and it leaves open whether Whalley will return to clinical nursing after the suspension ends.