RCN responds to new report into nursing regulation

Published: 06 July 2009

Embargo: 01:00 Monday July 6th 2009

Responding to the annual report from the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence (CHRE), Dr. Peter Carter, Chief Executive & General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), said:

"This report demonstrates that the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has made some significant improvements over the last year. We welcome much of the new guidance and the reduction in waiting times for fitness to practice hearings. But the CHRE are also right to point to areas where the NMC still need to improve. Our members have raised serious concerns about the consistency and quality of some NMC judgements, and about the balance of the panels which judge nurses. The public must be assured that the people who make judgements about what constitutes acceptable practice have recent clinical experience themselves.

"It's also very worrying that a nurse can still wait over nine months for a fitness to practice hearing. This is not only disruptive for the individual, but it does nothing to increase public or professional confidence in the NMC as an efficient regulator. The RCN will continue to work closely with the NMC to make sure it can offer an efficient service to patients and nurses."

-ends-

Notes to Editors

For further information, interviews or illustrations please contact the RCN Media Office on 0207 647 3633, press.office@rcn.org.uk or visit http://www.rcn.org.uk/newsevents/media

Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is the voice of nursing across the UK and is the largest professional union of nursing staff in the world. The RCN promotes the interest of nurses, healthcare assistants and patients on a wide range of issues and helps shape healthcare policy by working closely with the UK Government and other national and international institutions, trade unions, professional bodies and voluntary organisations.