In the latest response to The Rise Associates Independant Culture Review there were many observations that the NMC stated they were actioning - 36 in total as well as other anecdotal observations:
"One of the first things you will see upon entering one of
the NMC’s London offices is an orderly mosaic declaring
their values. Every day as staff make their way to desks in a
large open plan office, they pass brightly coloured tiles
containing statements such as ‘we value fairness’, ‘we value
people’ and ‘our mission: to protect the public’.
"Nurses are incredibly stressed,” explained one
senior nursing figure. They are having problems with their
mental health, visas and many are leaving the profession.
There have been six suicides in the last year of registrants who
are going through the Fitness to Practise process and some
have been waiting for four or five years. The NMC are leaving
people in limbo and because there are too few clinical
voices in the process they often don’t understand what
they are investigating.”
"Fitness to Practise went through an incredibly slow
screening process and that the system was not sufficiently
attuned to differentiate between serious and
minor issues."
“We have some nurses that have been in the Fitness to
Practise process for nearly 10-years,” added another
senior NHS figure. “I know the NMC needs to be an
independent professional body but it’s too adversarial and
disrespectful towards nurses and midwives. There is no
compassion and it’s affecting their health. They have been
off sick and people are taking their lives because they just
can’t cope with it.”
"the process had become too legal, combative and
procedural”
"We have problems with people who are demonstrably a danger to the public and also those who should not be in the process and pose no danger whatsoever to the public. It’s not working.”
“It was like tumbleweed. How are we ever going to learn if we
don’t open our minds? We are asking health professionals to
be honest and have a duty of candour but we don’t do this.”
“Unless you’re from a legal background you
know your expertise isn’t valued in the same way that
it is, if you’re from a clinical or a safeguarding or any other
expert background.”