Fitness to practise: why does the process still take so long?

There is ‘still a long way to go’ in speeding up fitness to practise (FtP) cases for nursing and midwifery professionals, according to Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) chief executive Paul Rees.

In the latest episode of the Nursing Standard podcast, Mr Rees tells RCNi senior journalist Shruti Sheth Trivedi that while the regulator is doing everything it can to make the FtP process as swift as possible for registrants, too many cases are still taking too long.

In the wide-ranging interview, Mr Rees, who was made permanent chief executive of the organisation in July, also highlights his priorities for the NMC; discusses the changes the regulator has made since publication of the Afzal review, which discovered a toxic culture at the organisation; acknowledges the toll that interim orders can take on nurses’ careers; and talks about the NMC’s intention to review and update its code of conduct and revalidation process, with input from nursing and midwifery staff.

He also acknowledges that the organisation went through a ‘dark period’, and says he hopes the changes being made will build ‘the new NMC that nursing and midwifery professionals want’.

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For more episodes of the Nursing Standard podcast, visit rcni.com/podcast

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