The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) believes it is starting to see some ‘green shoots of progress’ in its work to improve fitness to practise (FtP) processes but has recognised the ‘long journey ahead’.
In a council meeting this week, the nursing regulator provided an update on its FtP plan which also showed its total caseload had risen again from 5,778 in January 2024 to 6,633 by December 2024.
But council papers show the average case length of FtP screenings has improved between 2023 and 2024 – from 26 weeks to 23.5 weeks. Meanwhile the average investigations case age has fallen from 55.8 weeks to 49.5 weeks, and those at a case examiner stage has fallen from 88.4 weeks to 77.8 weeks.
Between December 2023 and December 2024, 65.5% of cases were closed within 15 months – though falling short of the 80% target set by the regulator.
In December 2024, a quarter of FtP cases were screened within the regulator’s two-month target.
At the same time, the number of screening decisions made by the regulator exceeded the number of new referrals being made.
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The NMC is currently preparing to relaunch a ‘realigned’ FtP plan, with a focus on reducing the backlog of cases at screening while also aiming resolve older cases more quickly.
The relaunched plans follow from an earlier plan launched in April 2024, following which the regulator has received a ‘higher than expected’ number of referrals.
The NMC have since moved to review the plan and have introduced a safeguarding hub to improve the safety and experience of those involved in the FtP process.
Lesley Maslen, executive director of professional regulation at the NMC, said recent figures show ‘early signs of improvement’ in speeding up decision rated across the FtP process.
She added that the regulator is ‘under no illusion about the long journey ahead’ and acknowledged that many registrants are yet to feel ‘the positive impact’ of the changes being made to the FtP process.
‘We need to keep investing in our people and in the tools they need to do their jobs well. We must also keep working to better understand people’s lived experiences of our processes.
‘This is how we’ll achieve the step change in the experience of FtP that people inside and outside the NMC deserve,’ she said.
Diversified panel membership
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The NMC has also recently improved the diversity of its FtP panel members who make decisions at hearings.
This follows the recommendation for more diverse panel membership in the recent independent culture review into the regulator.
Nearly a quarter of lay and registrant FtP panel members now come from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, at 24% and 23% each respectively.
The NMC has appointed 149 new panel members following its latest recruitment campaign for 2024/25, including 67 registrants.
Of the 67 new registrant members, the NMC has also appointed its first nursing associate panel member, the first panel appointment of the role since it was introduced in 2019.
Earlier this month, the NMC appointed a second advisor to improve its FtP processes.
Professor Donna O’Boyle is working closely alongside Anthony Omo, general counsel and director of fitness to practise at the General Medical Council (GMC), to speed up FtP investigations and provide effective public protection.
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At an NMC Council meeting in November, Mr Omo said the NMC’s thresholds on FtP screening are ‘not quite in the right place’ and that this was causing delays at the regulator.
