Scandal-hit nursing regulator wrongly approved hundreds of nurses to work in UK, damning report reveals

A scandal-hit regulator wrongly approved more than 350 “fraudulent” or “underqualified” nurses to work in the UK, amid a “dysfunctional” culture exposed by The Independent.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), which regulates more than 800,000 nurses and midwives, is also failing to spot workers who could pose a serious risk to patient safety and to prioritise investigating them.

These are just two of a series of failings uncovered in a review by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA), which regulates the NMC. That was prompted by The Independent’s exposé, which revealed that the organisation’s “toxic” culture had allowed nurses to work unchecked after whistleblower concerns were ignored.

The PSA’s report found that the NMC is failing to meet 7 of 18 national standards, and warned that:

• There are “serious” cultural and operational issues within the NMC.
• It is taking too long to deal with fitness-to-practice cases against nurses.
• A small number of safeguarding failings could amount to a serious risk to the public.
• Hundreds of fraudulent and underqualified nurses were placed on the register in error.
• It had significant concerns about the NMC’s ability to manage the quality of education provided by university training courses.
• It has consistently failed for years to investigate cases against nurses fairly.

Read full story

Source: The Independent, 19 June 2025