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F203

Strengthening the nursing professional voice

Mid Staffs Inquiry · Report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry · Issued 6 February 2013 · Addressed to: Department of Health and Social Care

Government responseDepartment of Health and Social Care: Accepted (Nov 2013)

DeliveryDHSC and NHS England state no delivery position (Feb 2026)Department of Health and Social Care says in progress (Feb 2015)

Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry

●Inquiry recommendation

A forum for all directors of nursing from both NHS and independent sector organisations should be formed to provide a means of coordinating the leadership of the nursing profession.

Mid Staffs Inquiry, Report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry · 6 Feb 2013 Source PDF →

Published evidence summary

AI-generated evidence summary

In commentary from September 2024, published in February 2026, the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England reported that the Chief Nursing Officer for England provides clinical and professional leadership across health and social care, supported by regional and Integrated Care Board chief nurses (DHSC and NHS England, Feb 2026). Previously, in May 2024, the Thirlwall Inquiry legal team noted that the recommendation had been accepted and that the government had cited the creation of the Federation of Nurse Leaders to coordinate nursing leadership (The Thirlwall Inquiry legal team, May 2024).

AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026.

Report-level response context

Government responded via "Hard Truths: The Journey to Putting Patients First" (2014), a single document covering all 290 recommendations with a blanket acceptance. Individual recommendation responses were not broken out.

Government response

●Department of Health and Social Care · Accepted · 19 Nov 2013

Speaker not recorded. Source: Department of Health, Hard Truths: the Journey to Putting Patients First, volume 2 (Cm 8777-II), November 2013

Accepted.
The Chief Nursing Officer has established the Federation of Nurse Leaders, a national forum that has been established to raise the awareness and profile of the nursing voice at a national level. Its membership is drawn from various bodies, including the Care Quality Commission, the NHS Trust Development Authority, Health Education England, Department of Health and Public Health England. It provides advice, challenge and scrutiny of nursing issues and provides the oversight of the delivery of Compassion in Practice, the vision and strategy and for nursing in England. It is chaired by the Chief Nursing Officer for England and the vice-chair is the Department of Health Director of Nursing.
The Nursing and Care Quality forum, established by the Prime Minister in January 2012, continues to play a role in supporting the Chief Nursing Officer and advising Government on nursing and care quality issues. It has been active in highlighting the issues which need to be addressed in improving care on the national level. It has promoted the use of technology to reduce bureaucracy, emphasised the need for better leadership and recruiting health and care staff based on their values. In future it will work more closely with the Chief Nursing Officer but will also retain its independent voice.
In addition, the Chief Nursing Officer has a monthly bulletin, an annual conference for Directors of Nursing and a new website launched to coincide with the 65th anniversary of the NHS. The website 6Cs live! (http://www.6cs.england.nhs.uk) provides a communications hub to enable all nurses including directors to come together, share good practice, concerns and leadership. The Chief Nursing Officer will review in 2014 whether more frequent meetings with Directors of Nursing from all organisations should take place.

Response document: Hard Truths: The Journey to Putting Patients First. Volume Two of the Government Response to the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry: Response to the Inquiry's Recommendations

Site note: This is volume two of "Hard Truths: The Journey to Putting Patients First" (Cm 8777-II), the government's response to the Inquiry's 290 recommendations, published by the Department of Health on GOV.UK on 19 November 2013 and dated to that day here. The PDF the row links to is the accessible edition, whose title page reads "January 2014". The Department of Health has been the Department of Health and Social Care since January 2018. The volume says it includes accounts from each of the national organisations the recommendations name, but it does not mark which passage each organisation wrote, so every row is filed under the Department that published it.

Delivery

●DHSC and NHS England state no delivery position · 27 Feb 2026

The Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) for England is responsible for providing clinical and professional leadership for all nurses, midwives and nursing associates across health and social care in England (including the independent sector). Since last November, the CNO has since last November taken on professional responsibility for public health nursing.

There is also a Chief Nurse for Adult Social Care based in the Department for Health and Social Care, and currently a Deputy Chief Nurse for Public Health.

NHS England’s CNO is supported by the chief midwifery officer, four deputy chief nursing officers and seven regional chief nurses. The 42 Integrated Care Boards are also required to have a Chief Nurse. To support cross-system working, there are also 42 ICB Chief Nurses.

The CNO for England also provides clinical and workforce advice to the NHS and the board of NHS England, and to ministers and officials in the Department of Health and Social Care on relevant issues. Each of NHS England’s seven regions also has a Regional Chief Nurses in place who provide professional leadership and a source of support for nurses and midwives in their area, alongside other duties. Regular networking opportunities will be provided as part of this activity.

From: The Thirlwall Inquiry: Review of Implementation of Recommendations from Previous Inquiries into Healthcare Issues (version dated April 2025)

Site note: DHSC and NHS England's own account of progress, supplied to the Thirlwall Inquiry in September 2024 and printed in the Inquiry legal team's Review of Implementation of Recommendations from Previous Inquiries into Healthcare Issues (version dated April 2025, published 27 February 2026). It is not a finding of the Inquiry. Their reviewed extent of implementation reads “Superseded”. Table row: section 18.2 No. 203, PDF page 528.

●Department of Health and Social Care says in progress · 11 Feb 2015

The Federation remains active. Recently the Nursing and Midwifery Council consulted nationally on a revised, draft Code for registrants and the Federation Group responded to this consultation with an agreed view. The Chief Nursing Officer has, with its membership, kept the Federation Group under review during 2013/14 and will continue to do so to ensure that it captures and considers key professional issues and provides the necessary challenge and support to nurses and midwives nationally. In addition, the Chief Nursing Officer provides national professional leadership via: · An annual programme of personal visits to health and care organisations · Production of a monthly Chief Nursing Officer bulletin · An annual summit for Directors of Nursing · A website (6CsLive!) established to serve as a hub for good practice and innovations · Blogs and her Twitter account

From: Culture Change in the NHS supporting Annex (annex to Culture change in the NHS: applying the lessons of the Francis Inquiries)

Site note: This is the supporting annex published on 11 February 2015 with "Culture change in the NHS: applying the lessons of the Francis Inquiries" (Cm 9009), attached to the GOV.UK page as "Culture change in the NHS supporting annex". The annex has no title page; that title is GOV.UK's and the PDF's own. Its table has four columns (No., Recommendation, Hard Truths Government response, Progress update), and the row carries the Progress update cell. No column says which organisation wrote an update, so the row is filed under the Department of Health (now the Department of Health and Social Care), which published it.

What other bodies have found

In their own words. These do not change the delivery statement above.

●Thirlwall Inquiry legal team · 15 May 2024

This recommendation was accepted by the Government.

In the January 2014 Hard Truths report, the Government said that the Chief Nursing Officer had established the Federation of Nurse Leaders, with its membership drawn from various bodies, including the Care Quality Commission, the NHS Trust Development Authority, Health Education England, the Department of Health and Public Health England. The Government said the Federation provided advice, challenge and scrutiny of nursing issues and oversight of nursing vision and strategy in England. The Government also referred to the Nurse and Care Quality forum and its role in advising the Government on nursing and care quality issues. In the February 2015 Culture Change report, the Government said that the Federation of Nurse Leaders remained active.

From: The Thirlwall Inquiry: Review of Implementation of Recommendations from Previous Inquiries into Healthcare Issues (version of 15 May 2024)

Site note: The Thirlwall Inquiry legal team's own notes on implementation, from its Review of Implementation of Recommendations from Previous Inquiries into Healthcare Issues (version of 15 May 2024). The review does not colour its Extent of Implementation cell for this recommendation green; it leaves the cell uncoloured where a recommendation was rejected, where evidence of implementation was insufficient, or where steps had been taken but implementation was not yet complete. Table row: section 16.2 No. 203, PDF page 490-491.

How this page is built

The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.