NMC 2014-2015 annual reports and accounts published

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) presented its annual reports and accounts and fitness to practise report to Parliament. The reports reflect the previous financial year from 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015: 

• Annual reports and accounts 
• Fitness to practise annual report

NMC Chief Executive and Registrar Jackie Smith said: 

“These reports reflect a year of both significant achievements and positive changes for the NMC. In the last year, our Council approved the introduction of revalidation across the four countries. Revalidation represents the single biggest change to regulation in a generation. This major achievement fulfils the recommendation made by Sir Robert Francis QC in his report into Mid Staffordshire in 2012.

“In addition, we have continued to exceed our key fitness to practise target for progressing cases to hearings. This is good news for the professions we regulate and for the public we are here to protect.

“However, we are not complacent and will continue to press for vital changes to our legislation that will enable us to put more of our resources and efforts towards promoting professionalism and preventing poor practice, as set out in the Council’s Strategy 2015-2020: Dynamic Regulation.” 

In the past year the NMC has: 

• Introduced a new Code which promotes professionalism and ensures that nurses and midwives remain able to practise safely and effectively.
• Introduced more robust controls on international applicants seeking to work in the UK.
• Exceeded its key performance indicator (KPI) to progress 90 percent of cases to the first day of hearing within six months of the investigations concluding. 

On 31 March 2015 there were: 

• 686,782 nurses and midwives on the NMC register.
• During 2014-2015 we received 5,183 new complaints against nurses and midwives; this is a 10 percent increase from 2013-2014.
• Hearings panels considered 1,732 cases of which 1,343 resulted in a sanction. 

-End-

Notes for editors

1.   The Nursing and Midwifery Council exists to protect the public. We do this by ensuring that only those who meet our requirements are allowed to practise as a nurse or midwife in the UK. We take action if concerns are raised about whether a nurse or midwife is fit to practise.

2.   Details of our registration processes can be found on our website.

3.   For media enquiries, please contact Benjamin Jackson, NMC media team, at media@nmc-uk.org or on 020 7681 5649.