Nurses and midwives who should have been banned from treating patients have practised over the last 12 years because of \u201cpotentially dangerous\u201d failings by a medical regulator.<\/p>\n
The Nursing and Midwifery<\/a> Council (NMC) has admitted that its \u201ccompletely and utterly unacceptable\u201d mistakes meant it failed to protect the public from about 15 professionals whom it should have banned from ever working in healthcare in the UK because they had broken the law.<\/p>\n The nurses and midwives told the NMC about their criminal convictions when they applied to join or stay on the regulator\u2019s register, which they need to be on in order to practise in Britain. However, NMC staff who assessed their applications did not then refer them on to an assistant registrar at the regulator to investigate and decide if they could treat patients, which they should have done.<\/p>\n The 15 or so nurses and midwives involved now face being struck off because their law-breaking is so serious that they should not be allowed to keep having contact with patients.<\/p>\n The Patients Association warned that the NMC\u2019s failure to properly look into the background of those concerned undermines patients\u2019 trust that health staff are safe to care for them.<\/p>\n The Royal College of Nursing<\/a> accused the regulator of an \u201castounding failure of its primary purpose to safeguard the public, as well as to provide assurance to the nursing workforce that they and their colleagues had all undergone the necessary checks to practise\u201d.<\/p>\n Prof Lynn Woolsey, the union\u2019s chief nursing officer, added: \u201cThe NMC must ensure all those practising as registered nurses are safe to do so at the point of registration and throughout their careers. It is a potentially dangerous regulatory failing that individuals made appropriate declarations regarding criminal convictions and\/or health conditions over such a long period of time without appropriate checks to determine their fitness to practise.\u201d<\/p>\n The NMC acknowledged that its failure to properly look into \u201chealth and character concerns\u201d nurses and midwives had disclosed to it constituted a major error and apologised.<\/p>\n Under NMC rules<\/a>, any nurse, midwife or nursing assistant seeking to join or remain on the register has to declare any criminal charges laid against them, or police cautions, convictions or conditional discharges that may make them unfit to have contact with patients, or any medical condition that may impair their ability to do so.<\/p>\n However, the regulator conceded that it had failed to properly risk-assess a total of 434 individuals over the last 12 years. While most of those are thought unlikely to pose any risk to patients, it is recommending that as many as 15 of the 434 should be struck off.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is estimated that assistant registrars could make recommendations that up to 15 nursing and midwifery professionals should be removed from the nursing and midwifery register of 867,935,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n The final decision on their fate will be made by independent disciplinary panels over the next few months, leaving the staff involved uncertain about their futures.<\/p>\n \u201cI would like to apologise for the fact that for a period of 12 years we failed to ensure that all health and character declarations were assessed in line with our full process. This is completely and utterly unacceptable\u201d, said Paul Rees, the NMC\u2019s chief executive.<\/p>\n