Dawn Butler (Brent East) (Lab)

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I beg to move,

That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make provision about the use of the title of nurse; and for connected purposes.

I thank the Minister for Secondary Care for being here for this debate. I thank the incredible #ProtectNurse campaign, led by Professor Alison Leary MBE and Paul Trevatt, as well as nursing organisations, such as the Queen’s Nursing Institute and the Institute of Health Visiting, and charities. I also thank Unison Health, Unite, the Royal College of Nursing’s professional nursing committee, and the many other people and groups who are supporting this change.

I am honoured to have worked on this for many years. My Bill is about protecting the public and respecting the training, qualifications and experience of registered nurses. I am sure it will come as a shock to many people here and watching this that anyone can call themselves a nurse. They can print out a business card and start work, and it would be fine—that is currently legal. Even those who have been struck off the Nursing and Midwifery Council register for serious misconduct or those who have a criminal conviction can continue calling themselves a nurse. That is unacceptable, and actually quite dangerous.

When we hear “nurse”, we automatically think of somebody who is qualified. I am sure we have all done it: somebody says they are a nurse, and we say, “Can you look at this rash for me?”, or “I’m feeling a bit of pain in my left side,” and we start giving personal information. We trust them because we trust the title of nurse. It is about time that we showed the nursing community just how much we value and appreciate their qualifications, because we know how important nurses are in society. We clapped for them during covid. They were on the frontline, and they saved many people’s lives, so this change is well overdue. When I think about nurses, I also think about my cancer nurse, Aimee, and how amazing and special she is. This Bill and this campaign are also a tribute to her.

In 2021, I tabled an amendment to the Health and Care Bill that received the support of 240 MPs—an enormous number. We thought we would get the amendment over the line, but it was a shame that the last Conservative Government used their majority to vote it down. Now that we have a Labour Government, I am hopeful and confident that we can amend the law to protect the title of nurse. At the end of the day, the first role of a Government is to protect their citizens, and my Bill would go some way to doing that.

A freedom of information request by Nursing Standard found that across 93% of all NHS trusts, there were more than 8,000 people with the term “nurse” in their job title who in fact had no registered nursing qualifications. That is worrying, and the numbers are incredible. We know the problem, so what is the solution? It is clear: the simplest way to rectify this issue is to amend the Professional Qualifications Act 2022 by adding “nurse” to “registered nurse”, a term that is already regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council, so this would not need to be part of regulatory reform. That is all we have to do. We have done a lot of work and research with lots of professionals, and importantly my Bill will recognise existing and protected titles, such as veterinary nurse and dental nurse, which would not be affected.

The Royal College of Nursing passed a resolution in favour of protecting the “nurse” title at its congress in 2022. Those in the profession know exactly what must be done, and we cannot wait any longer to do it, because we know how dangerous the current situation can be for patients. Cassandra Grant, 39, is a dangerous fantasist who posed as a nurse at the Blenheim Palace horse trials. She was jailed for four years. She was involved in injecting an injured rider. She repeatedly lied about having medical and mental health qualifications, and the judge said it made his “blood run cold” to think of Grant

“getting her hands on a patient”.

Kate Shemirani was a nurse who claimed that 5G caused covid symptoms and spread vaccine misinformation. She was struck off, but she was still legally able to call herself a nurse. Lee Woods, a 28-year-old man, was arrested and charged in connection with impersonating a member of the nursing staff at Queen Elizabeth University hospital in Glasgow. Unfortunately, I could go on listing cases where the title of nurse has been exploited in this way, so it is important that we legislate. Building on the hard work of the #ProtectNurse campaign, I hope that the Labour Government can improve the legislation.

Since taking office, the Labour Government have made great strides on rebuilding our NHS, after 14 years of consistent neglect. I urge the Government to support my Bill as part of their vital package of reforms, and to help bring about this simple, common-sense and long-overdue change for nurses and patients. It is overwhelmingly backed by those in the profession. Given the growing public concern, now is the time for this change.

I was first elected to this House in 2005—it seems like a lifetime ago—and I am here to represent my constituents of Brent East. Thanks to all the boundary changes, it was Brent South, then Brent Central, and is now Brent East. This is a most important piece of legislation. It can change everybody’s lives. It lets nurses know that we appreciate them, and allows patients to have confidence in people who call themselves a nurse. It is a simple and easy step.

Question put and agreed to.

Ordered,

That Dawn Butler, Paulette Hamilton, Tulip Siddiq, Mrs Sharon Hodgson, Barry Gardiner, Juliet Campbell and Clive Lewis present the Bill.

Dawn Butler accordingly presented the Bill.

Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 28 March, and to be printed (Bill 182).

Water (Special Measures) Bill [Lords] (Programme) (No. 2)

Motion made, and Question put forthwith (Standing Order No. 83A(7)),

That the following provisions shall apply to the Water (Special Measures) Bill [Lords] for the purpose of supplementing the Order of 16 December 2024 (Water (Special Measures) Bill [Lords] (Programme):

Consideration of Lords Message

(1) Proceedings on the Lords Message shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion two hours after their commencement.

Subsequent stages

(2) Any further Message from the Lords may be considered forthwith without any Question being put.

(3) The proceedings on any further Message from the Lords shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion one hour after their commencement.—(Jeff Smith.)

Question agreed to.