Draft Nursing and Midwifery (Amendment) Order 2017

Philip Dunne Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd February 2017 General Committees

[The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr Philip Dunne)]

I beg to move,

That the Committee has considered the draft Nursing and Midwifery (Amendment) Order 2017.

It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this afternoon, Mr Paisley.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council is the independent regulator for nurses and midwives throughout the UK. It sets the standards of conduct, performance and behaviour for more than 657,000 nurses and almost 35,000 midwives. To improve public protection and to address concerns expressed during investigations into systemic failures in the care of mothers and babies at the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, the draft order separates midwifery supervision and regulation, giving the NMC sole responsibility for midwifery regulation. It also makes a series of changes to modernise the regulation of nurses and midwives.

Specifically, the draft order does three things: it removes the statutory system of supervision and local investigation that is unique to midwifery in the national health service; it removes the statutory requirement for the NMC to have a midwifery committee, which again I think is unique in the NHS; and it improves the efficiency, effectiveness and proportionality of the NMC’s fitness to practise processes for both nurses and midwives. The Department of Health publicly consulted on the measures set out in the draft order and received more than 1,400 responses. The consultation highlighted concerns, in particular from within the midwifery profession, about the removal of both statutory supervision and statutory requirement for a midwifery committee, but the proposed legislation is required to enhance patient safety, to modernise the regulation of midwifery and to improve the fitness to practise processes for both nursing and midwifery.

The principles of midwifery regulation are based on a model that was established more than 100 years ago, back in 1902, when midwives worked as independent practitioners. Under the existing statutory provisions, supervisors of midwives, who are established in each of the four nations of the UK, have a role in investigating and resolving fitness to practise concerns at local level—that is, within their nation. Among the professions in the NHS, that system of supervision and local investigation is unique to midwifery. There is a lack of evidence to suggest that the risks posed by contemporary midwifery practice require that additional tier of regulation. More significantly, a number of reports have been critical of the system of statutory supervision, in particular the role that supervisors of midwives have in conducting investigations.

Following the completion of a number of investigations into complaints by the families of those affected by the tragic events at the Morecambe Bay trust, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman highlighted potential conflicts of interests in midwives investigating other midwives. The report stressed that the existing arrangements do not always allow information about poor care to be escalated effectively into hospital clinical governance systems or to the NMC. A subsequent report by the King’s Fund highlighted confusion resulting from local investigations being carried out in parallel with employer-led investigations. Similar concerns were expressed about the effectiveness of the statutory supervision of midwives in Dr Bill Kirkup’s report on the Morecambe Bay investigation.

Given the evidence set out in those reports, I am confident that separation of regulatory investigations from the supervision of midwives will be a positive step in enhancing public protection. To ensure that midwives continue to have access to support and development, the four UK nations through their chief nursing officers have collaborated to develop new non-statutory models of supervision to deliver those elements. While taking account of the requirements in each country, the four countries have been working within UK-agreed principles to develop employer-led models of supervision. Those models will have no role in fitness to practise matters concerning midwives. The new models of midwifery supervision will be introduced following the removal of the current statutory requirements and will build on the systems and processes for good governance and professional performance already in place through employers.

The second change the order will make is to remove the statutory requirement for the NMC to have a specific midwifery committee. The role of the midwifery committee is to advise the NMC council on matters affecting midwifery. The statutory requirement for the regulator to have a committee for a specific profession is unique to the NMC. In effect, it reflects a historical accident. The removal of that requirement does not prevent the NMC from establishing committees or groups in relation to midwifery; it simply removes the statutory requirement to do so.

The NMC is working to ensure that appropriate non-statutory routes are put in place so that the NMC council can continue to obtain expert advice on midwifery matters. To that end, it has already established a strategic midwifery panel to advise the NMC council on key midwifery issues and to develop strategic thinking on the future approach to midwifery regulation. The panel has representation from each of the four countries in the UK and the Royal College of Midwives. The NMC has also appointed a senior midwifery adviser to provide expert advice on midwifery issues. The NMC still has a statutory duty to consult persons who appear likely to be affected by any proposed rule changes and when establishing standards and guidance, including consulting midwives and those with an interest in midwifery.

I assure the Committee that the Government value the contribution made by all midwives to ensuring the informed and safe delivery of maternity services and the best outcomes for mothers and their babies. I hope the Committee is reassured that the changes are consistent with our commitment to the continued development of the midwifery profession.

The third set of changes concerns the NMC’s fitness to practise processes. In 2015-16, the NMC brought 1,732 cases to a conclusion before a panel at a hearing or a private meeting. The cost of those fitness to practise cases was more than £58 million—about 76% of the NMC’s budget. The changes in the order will enable the NMC to take proportionate action to address less serious concerns more efficiently and effectively while maintaining public protection.

The Department believes that the principles of better regulation centre on giving greater autonomy and flexibility to the regulatory bodies to enable them to deal more effectively with fitness to practise cases. Changes include new powers for the investigating committee to agree undertakings with the registrant or issue a warning or advice to a registrant, and replacement of the conduct and competence committee and the health committee by a single fitness to practise committee, where both conduct and health issues can be considered. Those changes will ensure that the NMC is able to respond to fitness to practise allegations in a more efficient and proportionate way, benefiting patients, midwife registrants and employers as well as nurses.

The NMC will need to amend its fitness to practise rules before some of the changes come into effect. The order of council with the proposed changes to the fitness to practise rules will be laid in Parliament for consideration. The changes that the order makes to the governing legislation of the NMC will ensure that the regulation of nurses and midwifes continues to be fit for purpose, with patient safety at its heart. I commend the order to the Committee.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Dunne]

I welcome the support of the hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston, who speaks, again, with great clarity and thoughtfulness on behalf of Her Majesty’s Opposition, and the support of the spokesman for the SNP, the hon. Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk. That support is much welcomed. I will try to address their points in a second. I would first like to make a suggestion to the hon. Member for Poplar and Limehouse, who gave us an interesting insight into some of the activities in his constituency. He should put himself forward to be a dad in the next series of “Call the Midwife”. I am sure he would be given a part if he could spare the time.

The hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston specifically asked whether we are striking the right balance between efficiency and a proportionate response to regulation. He will not be surprised to hear me argue that we are. In essence, many of the measures are designed to bring regulation of midwives up to date with regulation of other professions across the NHS.

Removing a unique statutory provision to have a committee within the NMC is an efficiency issue. The proportionate nature of the change is that it provides more flexibility to the NMC in its fundamental role in addressing fitness to practise. We think that that is the most meaty issue in the order and that is where we will need to continue to monitor the effectiveness. That will be done on a routine basis through NHS England, in response to another question put by the hon. Gentleman.

The hon. Gentleman also asked whether we intended to appoint a chief midwifery officer. At present, the chief nursing officer is the professional lead for both nursing and midwifery and we intend that to continue. That role is supported by the head of maternity in NHS England, which will continue to be the case. What will be new is the structure of regional leadership for midwife professionals across England. There will be a regional maternity lead and a deputy regional maternity lead in each of the four NHS England regions. Those leaders will take up position once the new law changes, which, provided the order is approved today, will be from the beginning of the new financial year, 1 April.

The hon. Gentleman asked whether we would be funding training requirements for new supervisors. Of course, each nation will have its own responsibilities for funding trainers. In England, the standard NHS contract, which has already been entered into for 2017-18, sets out that providers must have systems in place to ensure that staff receive appropriate continuing professional development supervision and training in accordance with the clinical supervision of midwives guidance issued by NHS England. That matter has been considered in that contract, and I believe arrangements have also been put in place in each of the other nations.

The hon. Gentleman also asked whether there would be any negative impacts on midwives from the arrangements, given concerns raised in the consultation response. The important point is that we do not see the measures as downgrading midwives’ status in the NHS in any way. We absolutely recognise the important role they play in one of the most fundamental things that the NHS provides—enabling babies to be brought into the world in a safe environment. Midwives should not see the order as downgrading their status; we do not think it does. It puts them on a statutory footing similar to that of other professions. We shall continue to provide midwives with the professional training, support and recognition that they have always had.

As for a parliamentary review of the procedures, I am not inclined at this point to give the hon. Gentleman a commitment. We shall certainly carry out a review within the Department. NHS England, as I have said, intends to conduct monitoring. He may want to make a diary note and consider whether he would want to bring the matter to Parliament in a year or so. I should rather approach the matter in that way than give a commitment now.

I thank hon. Members for their contributions. I hope that I have addressed the questions that were asked.

Question put and agreed to.