100 years of professional pride - plain text timeline

Plain text timeline

Year Milestone What happened
1919 The Nurses Registration Act The Nurses Registration Act is passed in Parliament on 23 December.
1920 General Nursing Council (GNC) for England and Wales is set up The General Nursing Council (GNC) for England and Wales is set up, along with one for Scotland and one for Ireland. Council members are selected by the Minister for Health.
1923 Ethel Fenwick becomes the first nurse registered in the UK After 30 years of campaigning for the state registration of nurses, Ethel Fenwick becomes the first nurse registered in the UK. She’s issued with badge number one, containing an image of Hygeia – the Roman goddess of health. Male nurses are kept on a separate register from women.
1923 Council established The first elected council members are chosen.
1939 Second World War The start of the Second World War. The need for more nurses, especially in the armed forces leads to an increase in pay.
1948 NHS founded The National Health Service (NHS) is founded on 5 July.
1949 The Nurses Act The Nurses Act is passed to establish a framework for nursing within the NHS. This includes accepting nurses from overseas for registration.
1951 One register Female and male nurses appear on the same register for the first time.
1950-1959 Nurses from abroad Nurses trained abroad are registered for the first time. Many of them are from British colonies or former colonies, especially in the Caribbean.
1960 Degree accreditation The University of Edinburgh offers the first degree course in nursing in the UK.
1966 Salmon report The Salmon Report calls for the development of senior nursing staff and reform to nurse grading, leading to the end of matrons.
1979 Modernisation The Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors Act is introduced, which leads to the creation of national boards for education and modernisation of the regulatory structure.
1983 UKCC established The United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting (UKCC) replaces the GNC. The GNC’s funds move to trusts dedicated to furthering nursing education and driving standards of care. Those trusts still exist today.
2002 The NMC is established The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) replaces the UKCC on 1 April.
2010 Education standards NMC first publishes its standards for pre-registration education
2015 The Code A revised version of the NMC Code is published to reflect the introduction of revalidation.
2016 Revalidation The first nurses and midwives revalidate to reflect on their practice and how the Code applies to their day-today work.
2018 Future Nurse The Nursing and Midwifery Council publishes ambitious new standards for educating the nurses of the future
2019 Nursing associates First nursing associates appear on the register on 28 January.
2020 The year of the nurse and midwife Throughout 2020 we will be celebrating with our partners across the health and care sector. It will be an exciting time for midwifery as our Council will also be asked to approve brand new standards of education for the next generation of midwives.