A UNIVERSITY of Bolton student has been suspended by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) for plagiarising his coursework.

Robert Chapman has been suspended by the NMC for six months after knowingly submitting work he knew was not his own while on a 15 week course at the university in 2016.

Mr Chapman is a registered nurse and was on a multi-professional support of learning and assessment in practice course, the university held an academic misconduct meeting on January 26 2017 before the matter was referred to the NMC.

A report from the NMC said: "The panel decided to impose the suspension order for a period of six months to reflect the seriousness of this case.

"This period of suspension is sufficient to send a clear message that dishonesty is wholly unacceptable."

It was found Mr Chapman had submitted coursework in December 2016 which had a 71 per cent similarity to that of a previous student.

The NMC panel, which concluded earlier this month, heard evidence from the head of the Centre for Nursing at the University of Bolton.

She told them at the misconduct hearing Mr Chapman 'readily admitted submitting another colleague's work through Turnitin' (a plagiarism detection service used by universities).

The panel heard how Mr Chapman 'ran out of time as the deadline' approached. He told the NMC that he had 'in a foolish blind panic made a regrettable mistake'.

The NMC found that Mr Chapman knowingly submitted plagiarised coursework and was dishonest in doing so.

The panel also found that Mr Chapman's actions had amounted to misconduct as his behaviour fell 'significantly below the standard expected of a registered nurse'.

The panel made the decision to suspend Mr Chapman because it found his fitness to practice was impaired and he had limited understanding of the seriousness of his actions.

However, the panel noted Mr Chapman's previous good conduct, that the incident was isolated and that there were 'a number of factors in your private life' which put pressure on him.

Suspending Mr Chapman is intended to give Mr Chapman 'time to reflect' and 'develop insight' on his actions.

His suspension order will be reviewed by the NMC before is expires. Mr Chapman is expected to provide a 'reflective piece' of work about his actions.

The University of Bolton has been approached for a comment.