Organisational response form

Modernising Fitness to Practise – Changes to the Fitness to Practise Rules 2004

The consultation documentsprovide the background information to our proposals. Please refer to these before completing your responses.

The consultation runs for 8 weeks from Monday 24 October 2016 and closes on Monday 19 December 2016 (at 12 noon). We will be unable to accept any responses after this deadline.

We are members of the Social Research Association (SRA), and ensure the highest standards of professional research and privacy in using the information that our respondents provide, abiding by the SRA Ethical Guidelines. Responses to the consultation exercise will be analysed as a whole and not linked to individual participants.

When you have completed the questions on this form, please email it to: . Please also use this email to report any problems.

Consultation questions

Undertakings
Please see consultation document – section on ‘Undertakings’, paragraphs 9-22.
  1. Do you agree with our approach as to when Case Examiners should recommend undertakings?

Agree
Disagree
Don’t know
Please explain your answer:
Failure to observe undertakings
  1. Do you agree that where a nurse or midwife fails to comply with undertakings, Case Examiners should be able to send the original allegation for a hearing?

Agree
Disagree
Don’t know
Please explain your answer:
Publication of undertakings
  1. Do you agree with our approach to publishing undertakings?

Agree
Disagree
Don’t know
Please explain your answer:
Warnings
Please see consultation document – section on ‘Warnings’, paragraphs 23-27.
  1. Do you agree with our proposals that warnings may be issued where the past concerns are serious, but the nurse or midwife has demonstrated full remediation and does not pose a current risk to patients?

Agree
Disagree
Don’t know
Please explain your answer:
Publication of warnings
  1. Do you agree with our approach to publishing the content of warnings?

Agree
Disagree
Don’t know
Please explain your answer:

Please continue overleaf

Advice
Please see consultation document – section on ‘Advice’, paragraphs 28-31.
  1. Do you agree with our proposals on when Case Examiners may give advice?

Agree
Disagree
Don’t know
Please explain your answer:
Reviewing Case Examiner decisions
Please see consultation document – section on ‘Reviewing Case Examiner Decisions’, paragraphs 32-37.
  1. Currently, decisions that a nurse or midwife has no case to answer can be reviewed by the Registrar if they were materially flawed, or new information has become available which could have led to a different decision, and a review is in the public interest. Do you agree that the Registrar should also be able to review decisions to give advice, issue warnings, and recommend or lift undertakings, using these principles?

Agree
Disagree
Don’t know
Please explain your answer:
  1. Where a Case Examiner decision is materially flawed, or new information which could change the decision has become available, do you agree that in addition to a new decision being in the public interest, ‘preventing injustice to a nurse or midwife’ should become a new factor which would point towards a new decision being made?

Agree
Disagree
Don’t know
Please explain your answer:
Equality and Diversity
Please see consultation document – all sections.
The protected characteristics are:
● Age
● Disability
● Gender reassignment
● Marriage and civil partnership
● Race
● Religion or belief
● Sex
● Sexual orientation
● Pregnancy and maternity
  1. Will any of these proposals have a particular impact on people who share these protected characteristics (including nurses, midwives, patients and the public)? If yes, would this impact have a positive or negative effect?

Yes
No
Don’t know
Please explain your answer:
  1. How can we amend the proposals to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between groups?
Please provide your answer below:

Please continue overleaf

Transitional provisions
Please see consultation document – section on ‘Transitional Provisions’, paragraph 40-42.
  1. Do you agree with our proposed transitional provisions?

Agree
Disagree
Don’t know
Please explain your answer:
Draft Rules
Please see document – ‘The Nursing and Midwifery Council (Fitness to Practise) (Amendment) Rules 2017’.
  1. Do you have any comments on the draft Rules?
Yes
No
Don’t know
Please provide any comments below:

We are committed to treating everyone fairly and meeting our legal responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 and related legislation (such as the Human Rights Act 1998). We encourage you to complete the following questions, as we will use responses to better understand if we are engaging with a diverse and broad range of organisations (and people they represent).

Respondent background questions (these refer to you specifically)

  1. a. Are you currently registered with the NMC?

Yes – please go to question 13.b
No – please go directly to question 14
I don’t know – please go directly to question 14
  1. b. Which of the following describes your registration with the NMC? (select all that apply)

Nursing
Midwifery
SCPHN

Organisation background questions (these refer to your organisation)

  1. Which of the following best describes the type of organisation you are responding on behalf of?(Please tick only one box)

Government or public body
Regulator
Professional organisation or trade union
NHS employer of nurses or midwives
Independent sector employer of, or agency for, nurses and midwives
Education provider
Consumer or patient organisation
Other, please specify:
  1. Does your organisation represent the views of nurses or midwives and/or the public that share the following characteristics? (select all that apply)

Older
Younger
Disabled
Ethnic groups
Women/Men
Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual
Transgender
Pregnancy/maternity
Religion or beliefs
Other, please specify:
  1. Please give the name of your organisation

  1. Would you be happy for your comments to be attributed to your organisation?

Yes
No, please keep my responses anonymous
  1. Please state where your organisation mainly operates

UK-wide
England
Northern Ireland
Scotland
Wales
Other, please specify:
I don’t know

Please continue overleaf

General Question

  1. How did you find out about this consultation?

NMC website
Email or e-newsletter from the NMC
Email or e-newsletter from another organisation
University
Friend/colleague
NMC event
My organisation
Other
I don’t know

This completes the questions.

Please email your completed form to: . Or print out and return via post to:

Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC)

Research and Evidence team (floor 3)

23 Portland Place

London

W1B 1PZ

Once the consultation exercise closes on 19 December 2016 (at 12 noon), we will analyse all received responses to build the evidence base from which to confirm or amend our current proposals accordingly.

The NMC would like to thank you for your valuable time in offering your views on this important consultation exercise.

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