Responding to the Professional Standards Authority's (PSA) review of the performance of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) which found it was meeting just half of the expected standards, RCN Chief Nursing Officer, Professor Lynn Woolsey, said:
“Today’s report from the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) provides a damning indictment of the NMC, finding that it meets just half of the standards expected of a regulator. The official verdict is that performance is getting worse and that is of serious public and professional concern. That it comes just a day after the NMC admitted it failed for 12 years to properly risk assess those with criminal convictions and health concerns shows just how far it has to go to simply deliver on its core functions as a minimum.
“The PSA report provides devastating evidence of failures, not least on Fitness to Practise (FtP). It is beyond unacceptable that the NMC would commission an external audit into its processes, only to then refuse to share the audit with its own regulator or publish its own FtP improvement plan, seemingly tying itself in knots as to whether either existed at all. This shows a disgraceful lack of transparency and disrespect towards nursing staff who still endure tortuous waits for decisions, inadequate communication and shocking racial disparities in investigations and formal action. That the PSA’s latest performance review found little positive change is intolerable to both our members and the public.
“These findings also show the extent to which the nursing regulator is failing in its core duty to uphold educational standards across the profession. It is deeply concerning that the NMC’s quality assurance of education providers was found to be high-risk, with little action taken since the last report. Examples in Brighton and Southampton of courses failing across multiple standards were not effectively identified, and the latter only identified by chance. It is clear the NMC’s method of allowing higher education institutions to self-assess is not only undermining the nursing profession but, crucially, posing a threat to care quality and patient safety now and in the future.
“The case for change at the NMC is stronger today than it has ever been, but the sense of conviction and urgency is missing. It is right that the PSA has escalated these issues to the secretary of state, but now is the time for radical change to be delivered, without delay. Failure to do so will leave nursing staff still wondering what they are paying for, while the regulator lets the public and our profession down when we need it to uphold standards. Time and patience from the profession has run out.”
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