Posted 05 July 2021 - 13:24
Posted 05 July 2021 - 13:24
News
FtP panel diversity: drive to recruit more minority ethnic members has limited success
NMC says long-term aim is for panel membership to reflect diversity of the profession
NMC says long-term aim is for panel membership to reflect diversity of the profession
A recruitment drive to attract people from minority ethnic backgrounds to the regulator’s fitness to practise (FtP) panels has had limited success.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) conducted a campaign via advertising and social media from 22 March to 9 April to recruit more nurses, midwives and non-registrants to the panels that consider misconduct and competency cases. But a report to the regulator’s governing body shows the drive was not as successful as hoped in boosting the proportion of black, Asian and minority ethnic panel members.
Appointment of 82 new NMC panel members due to be agreed on 7 July
The appointment of 82 new panel members – of whom 14 identify as black, Asian or minority ethnic – is due to be agreed at an NMC Council meeting on 7 July, increasing to 12.2% (40) the number from an ethnic minority background.
Among the existing 246 FtP panel members, 10.5% (26) identify as black, Asian or minority ethnic, compared with 21% of the 158,561 of nurses, midwives and nursing associates on the NMC register.
NMC assistant director of professional regulation Paul Johnson said: ‘Our recent recruitment campaign demonstrates we’re absolutely committed to maximising the diversity of our FtP panel pool.’
Number of minority ethnic panel members up from 26 to 40
He added that in the long-term, the regulator is focused on ensuring panel diversity is representative of the NMC register.
‘The recruitment campaign is a step in the right direction, but we’re acutely aware there’s more to do,’ he said. ‘We’re looking forward to building on these improvements to become the better, fairer regulator we’re determined to be,’ he said.
The campaign generated 1,469 applications from 735 registrants and 734 lay people. Of those, about 272 people (19%) identified as black, Asian or minority ethnic.
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