Posted 06 November 2017 - 10:00
Posted 06 November 2017 - 10:00
News
NMC welcomes Department of Health nursing regulation consultations
A consultation has been launched on ‘urgently needed’ reforms to the regulation of nurses and other health professionals.
A consultation has been launched on ‘urgently needed’ reforms to the regulation of nurses and other health professionals.
The proposals published by the Department of Health will provide professional regulators with greater autonomy to amend their procedures without the need for government help.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has welcomed the Department of Health consultation, saying the plans will remove the barriers to it becoming a ‘dynamic regulator’.
At the moment, the NMC has to rely on government intervention when it needs to adapt its legislation to respond to changing healthcare needs, meaning changes can take years to implement.
Needing a flexible approach
Commenting on the consultation, NMC chief executive Jackie Smith said: ‘I’ve made no secret of the urgent need for regulatory reform. Our current legislation is woefully outdated; it is a barrier to us becoming the modern and dynamic regulator we want to be.’
She added: ‘We need a much more flexible approach to regulation, enabling us to meet the demands and expectations of a rapidly changing health and care landscape while continuing to ensure openness and transparency.’
Ms Smith said while the consultation is a ‘welcome step in the right direction’, the government must press ahead with the changes to ensure regulators have the legislation to move forward.
Forward plans
The plans also include reducing the current nine professional regulators to three or four. This would bring greater consistency of standards and in fitness to practise decision-making processes, the Department of Health says.
This approach would also allow greater data sharing between regulators and could, for example, identify a problem with an employer where there are high numbers of fitness to practise cases among its staff.
Working with the regulatory bodies and the Professional Standards Authority, the UK governments have identified a number of areas in which closer working between regulators would protect the public and lead to efficiencies, the consultation says.
These include having a single set of generic standards for all healthcare professionals, underpinned by their own profession-specific standards, and a single adjudicator for all fitness to practise cases.
The consultation closes on 23 January 2018.
Further information
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