Response to NMC legislation to modernise midwifery regulation | PSA

General Comments on the Nursing and Midwifery Council consultation

We welcome the opportunity to comment on the Department of Health (DH) proposals to amend the NMC’s governing legislation.

Across the regulators we oversee, an increasing number of cases are being disposed of consensually at the end of the investigation stage. We support the use of consensual disposals, but urge the Government to consider how, under the current adversarial fitness to practise framework, our section 29 scrutiny could be extended to these methods of disposal to ensure that they are sufficient to protect the public.

We were disappointed to see that the Order did not include amendments to prevent registrants lapsing off the NMC register immediately for non-payment where no sanction is imposed (or it is revoked), and where the Authority has concerns about the sufficiency of the decision (effectively negating our appeal power).