NMC sets out next steps “toward change”

The Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) has set out steps “toward change” in response to the recent recommendations of the independent review.

 Writing on its website, the NMC set out the short, medium and long term plans for change.

Short-term

“It is important that we work with our people and seek input from our partners to deliver a programme of change that’s rooted in the recommendations. This will entail a huge amount of focused work over the next two years. However, there are some immediate actions which are under way, supported by external advice which will help to ensure we make the right decisions, address our cultural issues and follow through on change.”

• An external Empowered to Speak Up Guardian is now in place. They will support NMC colleagues to raise concerns and ensure they get independent support from a trained professional.
• NMC has invested in a partner to help improve psychological safety within the organisation, starting in Professional Regulation directorate.
• NMC has started the process of appointing an equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) advisor to its executive board, to support decision making.

Immediate commitments:

The NMC:

• will co-opt one or more senior independent advisers to the Council to increase the challenge and support that the Council receives, to ensure the necessary cultural changes are delivered and to prevent a recurrence of the findings in the report.
• has committed to increasing the diversity of our executive board.
• will develop a competency and behaviour framework, to launch in September, that will support recruitment, career progression and performance management.
• will offer extended decompression support to colleagues working on sensitive casework.

Medium-term

“In the medium term, we are reviewing our existing plans in light of the independent report’s recommendations. For example, we already have a £30m, 18-month improvement plan for fitness to practise, but we will now identify additional external expertise to provide insight, support and advice on the improvements we need to make.”

The NMC sais it will also

• work to enhance its approach to safeguarding.
• revisit its people and EDI plans, which set out how it invests in and support its people “to do the best job they can to deliver our purpose for the public.”

Longer-term

“Our longer-term plans will focus on the wider culture change that we need to deliver together with our colleagues and with input from our stakeholders. This includes the full implementation of Nazir Afzal and Rise Associates’ recommendations over a projected two-year period.

“This will drive improvement across leadership and management, equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and anti-racism, safeguarding and fitness to practise.”

Enhancing PSA oversight of the NMC’s progress

The NMC confirmed that the Professional Standards Authority (PSA), will establish an oversight and support group that will receive regular updates on the NMC’s progress, scrutinise the impact of measures we introduce to improve our culture and performance, and provide insight and advice on further actions required. The group will include Chief Nursing Officers from the four UK nations, representatives from trade unions, policy officials from the DHSC and devolved administrations, and relevant experts who the PSA will identify.

Helen Herniman, Acting Chief Executive and Registrar, said:

“The independent report on our culture made difficult reading for everyone at the NMC and for many outside our organisation, including our stakeholders, the professionals on the register and members of the public who have engaged in our regulatory work. We are sincerely sorry to everyone we have let down. We are committed to delivering a change programme rooted in the report’s recommendations, and we are confident this will help us to make a step change in both culture and performance.

“I am acutely aware that these must not just be words – it will be actions that demonstrate the change needed. There is a huge amount of work to do, and it starts now – by September we will have engaged internally and externally on the resources needed to deliver on the recommendations and how best to drive culture change. That programme will continue over the next 18 months to two years.

“I recognise that internal and external trust in the NMC has been badly damaged, and it is only through action and sustainable change that we will start to earn this trust back. We will report openly on progress as we move forwards.”

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