House of Commons Debate: Nurse (Use of Title) Bill (11 February 2025)

Summary

This is the transcript of the first reading of a Private Members' Bill in the House of Commons which proposes to legally protect the title “nurse”, ensuring that only those registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) can use it.

Content

Private Members’ bills are public bills introduced by MPs and Lords who are not government ministers. As with other public bills their purpose is to change the law as it applies to the general population. A minority of Private Members' bills become law but, by creating publicity around an issue, they may affect legislation indirectly.

The first reading is the first stage of a Bill's passage through the House of Commons, it takes place without debate. The short title of the Bill is read out and is followed by an order for the Bill to be printed. The next stage is second reading, the first opportunity for MPs to debate the general principles and themes of the Bill.

In the first reading of this proposed Bill, Dawn Butler MP made the following points:

• A freedom of information request by Nursing Standard found that across 93% of all NHS trusts, there were more than 8,000 people with the term “nurse” in their job title who in fact had no registered nursing qualifications.
• A route to addressing this issue to would be to amend the Professional Qualifications Act 2022 by adding “nurse” to “registered nurse”, a term that is already regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council, so this would not need to be part of regulatory reform.
• The Royal College of Nursing passed a resolution in favour of protecting the “nurse” title at its congress in 2022.