Nursing in The United Kingdom - The Nursing and Midwifery Council

The Nursing and Midwifery Council

The core function of the NMC is to establish and improve standards of nursing and midwifery care in order to serve and protect the public. Its key tasks are to:

• register all nurses and midwives and ensure that they are properly qualified and competent to work in the UK.

• set the standards of training and conduct that nurses and midwives need to deliver high quality healthcare consistently throughout their careers.

• set the standards for pre-registration nursing education

• ensure that nurses and midwives keep their skills and knowledge up to date and uphold the standards of their professional code.

• ensure that midwives are safe to practise by setting rules for their practice and supervision.

• use fair processes to investigate allegations made against nurses and midwives who may not have followed the code.

The powers of the NMC are set out in the Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001.

Membership of the council comprises 7 lay and 7 registrant members appointed by the Privy Council, including one member from each of the four UK countries. The registrant members consist of numbers of nurses and midwives. The lay members include people from education, employment and consumer groups (who are appointed by the Privy Council.