NMC announces chair to lead new review into post-registration standards
14 October 2019
From October, Dr David Foster will join the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) to Chair the post-registration steering group, which will review the current post-registration standards for nurses and midwives.
It will primarily focus on the Specialist Community and Public Health Nursing and Specialist Practice Community Qualifications.
This work will be carried out collaboratively with key stakeholders - such as unions, subject matter experts, chief nurses and the Queens Nursing Institute - across the four countries of the UK. The first meeting of the group will be held in November 2019.
A registered nurse and midwife, Dr Foster brings a wealth of experience from his time in both the NHS and the Civil Service. His postgraduate career focused on adult intensive care nursing before moving into management and professional leadership roles. He ended his NHS career as Director of Nursing at Hammersmith and Charing Cross Hospitals NHS Trust.
David then moved into the role of Deputy Chief Nursing Officer in England, where he was the head of the Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professions Policy Unit at the Department of Health and Social Care, advising ministers and policy teams.
After retiring from the Civil Service in 2016, David became the Chairman of the Foundation of Nursing Studies, a trustee of the Queen’s Nursing Institute and a visiting professor at Buckinghamshire New University, King’s College London, and Manchester Metropolitan University. He is also an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Midwives and a fellow of the Royal College of Nursing.
He was awarded an OBE for services to nursing and midwifery and his charity work earlier this year.
Commenting on his appointment, Dr Foster said:
“I am delighted to be appointed to Chair the post-registration steering group.
“This work will help the NMC to make the right decisions about this group of standards to support better, safer care for people in years to come.
“It is an important and complex piece of work and I look forward to collaborating with partners to achieve the best outcome.”
Andrea Sutcliffe, Chief Executive and Registrar at the NMC, said:
“I am delighted that from a strong field of applicants, we have been able to appoint David to chair the post-registration steering group.
“His appointment marks the start of a key piece of work for us. We know from the development of our new five-year strategy that this is an important subject for many people.
“His previous experience of working across the UK at a national level and his knowledge and insight into the delivery of community services, the groups of professionals who provide these services and the needs of the communities they serve, make David an excellent choice.”
ENDS
Background information
- For further media enquiries, please contact the NMC press office on 0207 681 5415 or email media@nmc-uk.org
- As part of our education programme of change, we’re now beginning to consider our post-registration standards. During 2018 we commissioned an independent evaluation of our specialist community public health nursing (SCPHN) and specialist practice qualification standards (SPQ). The evaluation was carried out by an external research organisation, Blake Stevenson, and has been published. Read a copy of the report.
- These findings will inform the next stages of our review. We haven’t made any decisions on this issue and won’t do so before we’ve considered the findings of the evaluation and spoken with a wide range of stakeholders, including educational institutions, the public and the people on our register.
