NMC highlights progress while responding to PSA performance concerns

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has responded to the Professional Standards Authority’s (PSA) latest performance review, acknowledging the seriousness of the regulator’s findings while arguing that significant organisational reforms are already beginning to deliver improvements.

The PSA’s review of the NMC’s performance during 2025 concluded that the regulator met only nine of the 18 Standards of Good Regulation, a decline from the 11 standards achieved in the previous review period. The findings prompted the PSA to formally write to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and parliamentary health committee chairs across the UK under its escalation policy. 

In announcing its findings, the PSA stated that although it recognised the efforts of the NMC’s new leadership team, it had not yet seen sufficient evidence of “substantial and sustained improvement” across the organisation. The review identified concerns relating to governance, equality, diversity and inclusion, education quality assurance, registration processes and aspects of fitness to practise case handling.

The PSA considered progress to be mixed and noted that several areas identified in previous reviews remained unresolved. The publication also reported that delays continue within parts of the fitness to practise process and that concerns remain regarding communication with parties involved in cases. 

However, the NMC has sought to place the findings within the context of what it describes as a major organisational turnaround programme following the Independent Culture Review published in 2024.

In a statement issued after publication of the PSA report, the NMC said the review recognised the commitment of its new leadership team to reform and acknowledged the challenging circumstances facing the organisation. The regulator pointed to a three-year transformation programme introduced during 2025, alongside a dedicated Fitness to Practise Improvement Plan intended to create a faster and fairer regulatory process.

Chief Executive and Registrar Paul Rees said the PSA report reflected both the progress already made and the scale of the historical issues that the new leadership has inherited. According to Rees, legacy problems uncovered since the leadership changes have affected the regulator’s ability to demonstrate improvement against the PSA’s standards. 

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