Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the revised Nursing and Midwifery Code will include provisions on bowel and bladder care to take account of the findings of the Francis Report on poor continence care.

The Code: Standards of conduct, performance and ethics for nurses and midwives, is produced by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). The NMC are currently redeveloping The Code and have advised that the new Code will be published in early 2015.

The Code has little to do with specific tasks or clinical procedures. It is not about the detail in a nurse's or midwife's clinical expertise. It is about conduct, behaviour, ethics and professionalism.

There have been a number of high profile reports in the healthcare sector and these have all impacted on the nursing and midwifery professions and the revising of the Code.