Recommendation F232: Employment liaison officers
From Report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry, published 6 February 2013.
Recommendation
The Nursing and Midwifery Council could consider a concept of employment liaison officers, similar to that of the General Medical Council, to provide support to directors of nursing. If this is impractical, a support network of senior nurse leaders will have to be engaged in filling this gap.
In brief (written by this site)
The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England reported in February 2026 that the recommendation was implemented, explaining that the Nursing and Midwifery Council introduced an Employer Link Service in 2016 that now employs 13 regulation advisers to support employers and directors of nursing (DHSC and NHS England, Feb 2026). Previously, the Thirlwall Inquiry legal team found in May 2024 that it was unclear how earlier plans for regional liaison advisers had been taken forward following a 2015 update (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.
Government response
Accepted.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council have started planning the introduction of new regional advisors who will perform a function similar to the General Medical Council’s employer liaison advisers of providing support and guidance locally for employers and others with concerns about nurses and midwives. A pilot will be undertaken in 2014, with roll out planned for 2015.
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 completed (27 February 2026)
In 2016 the NMC introduced its Employer Link Service (ELS), which sought to develop more effective regulatory relationships with employers and Directors of Nursing. This was in direct response to this recommendation. ELS Regulation Advisers work closely with employers to assist with queries and provide advice about making FtP referrals, helping ensure that the right referrals are made. This outreach function also enables the NMC to better identify, respond to and share data and intelligence with partners at an earlier stage. ELS also offer learning sessions for employers about fitness to practise process and other core regulatory functions, including the NMC Code and standards for employers to promote good standards and practice amongst their staff. The ELS function is well embedded, and the NMC now has a team of 13 Regulation Advisers who lead outreach activity.
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 - Closed”. Table row: section 18.2 No. 232, PDF page 546.
Department of Health and Social Care says in progress (11 February 2015)
The Nursing and Midwifery Council have engaged with our external stakeholders and obtained their views on what a regional liaison model might look like. These discussions were designed to develop an understanding of the key issues relating to regional engagement which would then inform the approach to developing a model for Nursing and Midwifery Council regional liaison. The stakeholders included nursing and midwifery representatives from employers and partners throughout the UK, across the NHS and independent sectors as well as wider regulators. An operating model is being developed for rollout in early 2015.
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.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council said it would carry out a pilot in 2014 for a role of regional advisors, to perform a function similar to the General Medical Council’s employment liaison advisers. In the February 2015 Culture Change report, the Government said that an operating model was being developed for rollout in early 2015. It is unclear how this was taken forward.
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. 232, PDF page 505.
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