Profile

Accepted.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council is working to develop its public profile, and will be re- launching its website and developing information for patients, the public and employers. It has embarked on a programme of increased face-to-face engagement with its stakeholders and introduced a new patient and public forum made up of patient advocates, health charities and members of the public. The group meet quarterly and have considered issued such as what can be done to restore confidence in the Nursing and Midwifery Council, and patients’ experience of complaining to the Nursing and Midwifery Council. The forum is helping the Nursing and Midwifery Council to co-create a leaflet for the public on the quality assurance of education and how to make the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s website more user-friendly.
As part of its engagement work, the Nursing and Midwifery Council has held a joint event with the Richmond Group of Charities and the General Medical Council involving representatives from regulators, health charities, patient advocacy groups and others to discuss what good patient and public engagement feels like. The council is also part of the health professions regulators patient and public engagement group to share experiences and look at ways to work better together.
In September 2013, the Nursing and Midwifery Council relaunched its guidance on raising concerns, and is publicising this guidance through various means. Its engagement work covers all its functions, including fitness-to-practise, registration, education, standards and revalidation and is undertaken across all four UK countries. This work will be enhanced further by the planned introduction of regional representatives.

The NMC has since made a number of improvements aimed at raising its profile, improving public-facing engagement and supporting members of the public through its fitness to practise process.

In 2014 it re-launched its website to make it more public focused and interactive. The NMC now has specific webpages and guidance for patients, families and the public about making a referral with and its wider fitness to practise process to better support them through the referrals process. In 2018 it introduced a Public Support Service to offer personalised support to those involved in our cases, and in 2023 launched a new helpline dedicated to supporting people considering a referral.

In 2021 it established a Public Voice Forum. Meeting on a quarterly basis, this group enables the NMC to regularly touch base with members of the public, providing it with a better understanding of what they think about key changes and initiatives and helping members of the public influence and shape its work.

Th NMC has also undertaken several pieces of research aimed at understanding stakeholder perceptions, helping identify how it can better engage with members of the public and increase understanding of its role. In 2019 it undertook a Perceptions Audit and in 2022 commissioned BritainThinks to research what its audiences think about the organisation and the wider health and care sector.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council is making progress with its website redevelopment project and has recently completed a phase of user testing to inform the architecture of the site. The revised website is due to be launched by mid-2015. Its Patient and Public Engagement Forum continues to meet quarterly and advises the Nursing and Midwifery Council on raising public awareness of its role and how to ensure its services are accessible to all potential users. The Nursing and Midwifery Council has produced two information leaflets for the public on raising concerns about nurses and midwives and understanding your rights when being cared for by students. These leaflets have been distributed widely through over 1,000 patient representative groups, patient advocacy services, patient advice and liaison

This recommendation was accepted by the Government.

In the January 2014 Hard Truths report, the Government said that the Nursing and Midwifery Council re-launching its website (re-launched in mid-2015), developing information for patients, the public and employers, embarking on programme of increased face-to-face engagement with stakeholders, and introducing a new patient and public forum. The Nursing and Midwifery Council said it would publish a leaflet for the public on how to raise concerns and promote and distribute the leaflet through patient and other third sector organisations.

In its March 2014 update report, the Nursing and Midwifery Council said it would undertake a survey of perceptions of it.