Mental health nurse George Nish, who used artificial intelligence to generate indecent images of children, has been struck off the nursing register.
Nish, a charge nurse at Ailsa Hospital in Ayr, Scotland, was found guilty in November last year of crimes relating to the creation and possession of indecent images of children. He was initially charged in October 2024, and in April the following year he wrote to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) to announce his retirement and voluntarily withdraw from the register.
Offending linked to work with sex offenders
Nish claimed he became fascinated with child abuse images through his job as a nurse, where he reportedly managed sex offenders. Despite his crimes, he avoided a prison sentence.
At a hearing on October 2, an NMC panel ordered Nish to be struck off, meaning he is prohibited from working as a registered nurse, midwife or nursing associate. The panel also imposed an interim suspension order covering the period before the strike-off takes effect.
Panel: conduct 'fundamentally incompatible' with registration
In its written determination, the committee said: "The panel was of the view that Mr Nish's actions were significant departures from the standards expected of a registered nurse and are fundamentally incompatible with him remaining on the register."
It added: "The panel took into account that Mr Nish's offences involved sexual offences concerning children and went beyond the possession of sexual images to downloading and taking clones of children and running them through AI to create naked images of them. The panel considered that this conduct was a fundamental breach of the tenets of the nursing profession and was capable of seriously undermining public confidence."
Risk to vulnerable individuals noted
The committee concluded that "nothing short of a striking-off order" would maintain public confidence and send a "clear message" about expected standards of behaviour. It noted that if Nish remained a registered nurse he could potentially encounter children and other vulnerable individuals, and that it "could not be satisfied" he would not pose a risk to them. The "repeated" nature of his offending was also highlighted as "particularly significant in assessing the likelihood of future harm".
In correspondence dated September 24, 2026, Nish's representatives at the Royal College of Nursing made clear he does not intend to return to the profession. "Mr Nish ... acknowledges the charges and accepts the seriousness of his conduct," the letter read. "He has demonstrated insight into the concerns and has expressed genuine remorse. His engagement with the relevant support and remediation demonstrates that he has taken positive steps to address the matters arising from his conviction."
