Nurses and midwives who should have been barred from patient care continued working for 12 years due to serious lapses by their regulator. The Nursing and Midwifery Council acknowledged that its errors left the public unprotected from roughly 15 professionals who should have been removed from practice after breaking the law. These individuals had reported their criminal convictions when seeking registration or renewal, yet staff failed to forward the cases for proper review. The 15 now risk being struck off. The Patients Association said the oversight weakens confidence in the safety of health workers. The Royal College of Nursing called it a major lapse in the regulator’s duty to protect the public and assure proper checks. Its chief nursing officer stated that fitness-to-practise assessments must occur at registration and throughout careers. The NMC apologised for not assessing health and character declarations correctly over 12 years. It also admitted that 434 cases were not reviewed properly, though most are not expected to pose risks. Up to 15 of these may still be recommended for removal from a register of nearly 868,000 professionals. Final decisions rest with independent panels. Chief executive Paul Rees said the failure was unacceptable and resulted from an internal alert that prompted a full review of past applications. The union has called for an independent inquiry into why the problems stayed hidden so long.
