Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support independent private nurses who are on the Nursing and Midwifery Council register and who intend to return to the NHS to tackle the covid-19 outbreak.

NHS Professionals launched the COVID-19 Rapid Response service to enable healthcare workers, including registered nurses who are not currently working in the National Health Service, to move quickly and safely to the frontline to help to tackle the COVID-19 outbreak.

Nurses returning to the NHS will be offered induction, education and training suited to the role.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council, the independent regulator of nurses and midwives in the United Kingdom, and nursing associates in England, has issued statements on the regulatory framework and professional standards for registrants joining the NHS during the COVID-19 outbreak.