The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has today formally agreed to a request from the Department of Health to be the regulator for the new nursing associate role.
The announcement appeared on the NMC page only minutes ago following todays council meeting. This post has been taken directly from the NMC site.
The NMC, last week, set out the conditions for regulating associates nurses – you can see those here.
Jackie Smith, NMC Chief Executive and Registrar of the NMC said:
“After a thoughtful and thorough discussion, the NMC’s Council has agreed to a request from the Department of Health to be the regulator for the new nursing associate role.
“The Council recognised that there is strong support for the regulation of nursing associates and I have always maintained that the public would expect any role with nursing in the title to be regulated.
“As an organisation we are well-equipped to regulate nursing associates and this is a positive endorsement of our progress. We will continue to work closely with stakeholders including the Department of Health and Health Education England to ensure the successful development and implementation of this new role.”
Health Minister Philip Dunne said:
“Robust professional regulation is important, so patients can continue to be confident they are receiving high quality care and I am delighted with today’s decision by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.
“The introduction of the Nursing Associate role is key to strengthening the future NHS workforce and we look forward to working with them and other key stakeholders to ensure that appropriate safeguards are put in place for this new profession.”
You can read more about nursing associates on our webpage or by visiting the Health Education England website.