Recommendation F230: Profile
From Report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry, published 6 February 2013.
Recommendation
The profile of the Nursing and Midwifery Council needs to be raised with the public, who are the prime and most valuable source of information about the conduct of nurses. All patients should be informed, by those providing treatment or care, of the existence and role of the Nursing and Midwifery Council, together with contact details. The Nursing and Midwifery Council itself needs to undertake more by way of public promotion of its functions.
In brief (written by this site)
In February 2026, the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England reported, in commentary from September 2024, that the Nursing and Midwifery Council had taken steps to raise its profile, including launching a dedicated referral helpline in 2023, establishing a Public Voice Forum, and researching audience perceptions (DHSC and NHS England, Feb 2026). Previously, the Thirlwall Inquiry legal team noted in May 2024 that the government had accepted the recommendation and reviewed earlier actions, including the council's website relaunch, engagement forums, and guidance leaflets on raising concerns (The Thirlwall Inquiry legal team, May 2024).
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026. The record below is the sources' own words.
About this summary
This recommendation applies across many organisations. The record reflects central policy activity; adoption in individual organisations may vary.
Government response
Accepted.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council is working to develop its public profile, and will be re- launching its website and developing information for patients, the public and employers. It has embarked on a programme of increased face-to-face engagement with its stakeholders and introduced a new patient and public forum made up of patient advocates, health charities and members of the public. The group meet quarterly and have considered issued such as what can be done to restore confidence in the Nursing and Midwifery Council, and patients’ experience of complaining to the Nursing and Midwifery Council. The forum is helping the Nursing and Midwifery Council to co-create a leaflet for the public on the quality assurance of education and how to make the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s website more user-friendly.
As part of its engagement work, the Nursing and Midwifery Council has held a joint event with the Richmond Group of Charities and the General Medical Council involving representatives from regulators, health charities, patient advocacy groups and others to discuss what good patient and public engagement feels like. The council is also part of the health professions regulators patient and public engagement group to share experiences and look at ways to work better together.
In September 2013, the Nursing and Midwifery Council relaunched its guidance on raising concerns, and is publicising this guidance through various means. Its engagement work covers all its functions, including fitness-to-practise, registration, education, standards and revalidation and is undertaken across all four UK countries. This work will be enhanced further by the planned introduction of regional representatives.
How this response relates to the recommendation
Site note: This is volume two of "Hard Truths: The Journey to Putting Patients First" (Cm 8777-II), the government's response to the Inquiry's 290 recommendations, published by the Department of Health on GOV.UK on 19 November 2013 and dated to that day here. The PDF the row links to is the accessible edition, whose title page reads "January 2014". The Department of Health has been the Department of Health and Social Care since January 2018. The volume says it includes accounts from each of the national organisations the recommendations name, but it does not mark which passage each organisation wrote, so every row is filed under the Department that published it.
Blanket government agreement does not establish acceptance or delivery by each addressee. Some response passages cover groups of recommendations.
Scope of the government response
Government responded via "Hard Truths: The Journey to Putting Patients First" (2014), a single document covering all 290 recommendations with a blanket acceptance. Individual recommendation responses were not broken out.
Delivery
DHSC and NHS England say in progress (27 February 2026)
The NMC has since made a number of improvements aimed at raising its profile, improving public-facing engagement and supporting members of the public through its fitness to practise process.
In 2014 it re-launched its website to make it more public focused and interactive. The NMC now has specific webpages and guidance for patients, families and the public about making a referral with and its wider fitness to practise process to better support them through the referrals process. In 2018 it introduced a Public Support Service to offer personalised support to those involved in our cases, and in 2023 launched a new helpline dedicated to supporting people considering a referral.
In 2021 it established a Public Voice Forum. Meeting on a quarterly basis, this group enables the NMC to regularly touch base with members of the public, providing it with a better understanding of what they think about key changes and initiatives and helping members of the public influence and shape its work.
Th NMC has also undertaken several pieces of research aimed at understanding stakeholder perceptions, helping identify how it can better engage with members of the public and increase understanding of its role. In 2019 it undertook a Perceptions Audit and in 2022 commissioned BritainThinks to research what its audiences think about the organisation and the wider health and care sector.
Site note: DHSC and NHS England's own account of progress, supplied to the Thirlwall Inquiry in September 2024 and printed in the Inquiry legal team's Review of Implementation of Recommendations from Previous Inquiries into Healthcare Issues (version dated April 2025, published 27 February 2026). It is not a finding of the Inquiry. Their reviewed extent of implementation reads “Implemented – Ongoing”. Table row: section 18.2 No. 230, PDF page 545.
Department of Health and Social Care says in progress (11 February 2015)
The Nursing and Midwifery Council is making progress with its website redevelopment project and has recently completed a phase of user testing to inform the architecture of the site. The revised website is due to be launched by mid-2015. Its Patient and Public Engagement Forum continues to meet quarterly and advises the Nursing and Midwifery Council on raising public awareness of its role and how to ensure its services are accessible to all potential users. The Nursing and Midwifery Council has produced two information leaflets for the public on raising concerns about nurses and midwives and understanding your rights when being cared for by students. These leaflets have been distributed widely through over 1,000 patient representative groups, patient advocacy services, patient advice and liaison
Site note: This is the supporting annex published on 11 February 2015 with "Culture change in the NHS: applying the lessons of the Francis Inquiries" (Cm 9009), attached to the GOV.UK page as "Culture change in the NHS supporting annex". The annex has no title page; that title is GOV.UK's and the PDF's own. Its table has four columns (No., Recommendation, Hard Truths Government response, Progress update), and the row carries the Progress update cell. No column says which organisation wrote an update, so the row is filed under the Department of Health (now the Department of Health and Social Care), which published it.
Site note: The Inquiry addressed this recommendation to the Nursing and Midwifery Council, not to the Department of Health. The annex gives this update in the Department's publication and does not say who wrote it, so the row is the Department's report of the progress made on it.
What other bodies have found
In their own words. These do not change the delivery statement above.
Thirlwall Inquiry legal team (15 May 2024)
This recommendation was accepted by the Government.
In the January 2014 Hard Truths report, the Government said that the Nursing and Midwifery Council re-launching its website (re-launched in mid-2015), developing information for patients, the public and employers, embarking on programme of increased face-to-face engagement with stakeholders, and introducing a new patient and public forum. The Nursing and Midwifery Council said it would publish a leaflet for the public on how to raise concerns and promote and distribute the leaflet through patient and other third sector organisations.
In its March 2014 update report, the Nursing and Midwifery Council said it would undertake a survey of perceptions of it.
Site note: The Thirlwall Inquiry legal team's own notes on implementation, from its Review of Implementation of Recommendations from Previous Inquiries into Healthcare Issues (version of 15 May 2024). The review does not colour its Extent of Implementation cell for this recommendation green; it leaves the cell uncoloured where a recommendation was rejected, where evidence of implementation was insufficient, or where steps had been taken but implementation was not yet complete. Table row: section 16.2 No. 230, PDF page 504.
Source
Responsible bodies
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- Department of Health and Social Care
Response, delivery statement - DHSC and NHS England
Delivery statement - Thirlwall Inquiry legal team
Finding