Fitness to practise cases are central to the NMC’s regulation of nursing standards

Every year, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) receives more than 5,000 complaints about nurses, midwives and nursing associates. Each of these cases is looked at through the regulator’s fitness to practise process to see if the registrant should be allowed to continue to work in the same way as before. This process has undergone significant change since a public consultation by the NMC in 2018. For many nurses, the thought of being referred to the NMC is a daunting one. This article aims to demystify the process.