Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with the Nursing and Midwifery Council on extension of their remit to include root cause analysis of complaints and investigations.

In 2015-16, Health Ministers have not met the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) specifically to discuss extending its remit to include root cause analysis of complaints and investigations. However, Ministers do keep the issue of professional regulation under regular review and the Department has frequent discussions with professional regulators, including the NMC. Such discussions can cover a range of subjects including complaints handling and fitness to practise (FtP) processes.

The NMC has a statutory duty to investigate if an allegation is made that a nurse or midwife does not meet its professional standards and, where necessary, to take action to safeguard the health and well-being of the public. Such investigations do not extend to investigating concerns, or their root cause, beyond determining the FtP of the individual registered nurse or midwife involved.

The NMC reports that it works closely with other regulatory bodies, such as the Care Quality Commission and shares information that raises systemic concerns. As part of its 2015-20 strategy the NMC committed to sharing its data with other bodies responsible for quality and safety and to make anonymised data available to third parties where appropriate.