Tracing nurses

RCN Membership

The RCN was established in 1916 as a professional association for nurses, which later became a union. The RCN Archives cannot disclose any confidential membership information under the Data Protection Act 2003. The only RCN membership information available is a published volume covering 1916-1923. This gives name, joining date, address and qualification.

Registration

Since 2001, the statutory body of nursing in the UK has been the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC). It was preceded by the UK Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting (UKCC) working in conjunction with four national boards, which dealt with educational standards (1983-2001).

Before the UKCC, there were three General Nursing Councils (GNC): England & Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Councils were established in 1921 with clearly prescribed duties and responsibilities for the training, examination and registration of nurses and the approval of training schools for the purpose of maintaining a Register of Nurses for England and Wales, Scotland and for Ireland.