Making a referral to us

We exist to enable better and safer care. One of the ways we do this is by acting when someone tells us they have a concern about a nurse, midwife or nursing associate which could put the safety of patients at risk, or damage the public’s confidence in the nursing or midwifery professions.

Anyone can raise a concern if they feel the safety of patients or the public is at risk. It then becomes our duty as a regulator to decide whether the nurse, midwife or nursing associate is fit to practise and meets our standards. This page is for referrals from employers or other organisations, colleagues and other healthcare professionals or if you're a nurse, midwife or nursing associate who needs to make a self referral.

If you're a member of the public then please see our Public and Patient support section.

When we consider a concern, it is through a formal legal process. The full process can take up to 15 months.

We'll use the information you provide to help us decide whether to take action against the nurse, midwife or nursing associate. In some cases, we'll decide that no further action is required.

We're committed to making sure that our fitness to practise processes are accessible for everyone. If you need help to bring your concerns to our attention, would like our information in another format, or need us to make an adjustment because of disability or injury, please get in touch with us.

We can only investigate complaints about nurses, midwives or nursing associates

If you have a complaint about another healthcare professional (eg. a doctor or healthcare support worker) or an establishment such as a hospital or care home, there are other healthcare regulators who can investigate.

Other healthcare regulators who can investigate

Other healthcare regulators

Regulator	Who they regulate	Phone number
General Medical Council (GMC)	Doctors	0845 357 8001
General Dental Council (GDC)	Dentists, dental therapists, dental hygienists, dental nurses, dental technicians, clinical dental technicians and orthodontic therapists	020 7887 3800
Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)	Arts therapists, biomedical scientists, chiropodists, podiatrists, clinical scientists, dieticians, occupational therapists, operating department practitioners, orthoptists, paramedics, physiotherapists, prosthetists and orthotists, radiographers, speech and language therapists and social care workers, qualified social workers and social work students on approved degree courses in England	020 7582 0866
General Optical Council (GOC)	Opticians	020 7580 3898
General Chiropractic Council (GCC)	Chiropractors	020 7713 5155
General Osteopathic Council (GOsC)	Osteopaths	020 7357 6655
General Pharmaceutical Council (GPC)	Pharmacists, pharmacy technicians (on the voluntary register) and pharmacy premises	020 3365 3400
Care Quality Commission	Health and adult social care services in England	03000 616161
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO)	Makes final decisions on complaints that have not been resolved by the NHS in England	0345 015 4033
Care Council for Wales	Social care workers, qualified social workers, and social work students on approved degree courses in Wales	0845 070 0399
Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISCC)	Social care workers, qualified social workers, and social work students on approved degree courses in Northern Ireland	02890 417600 02890 239340 (Text phone)
Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI)	Pharmacists and pharmacy premises in Northern Ireland	02890 326927
Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC)	Social care workers, qualified social workers, and social work students on approved degree courses in Scotland	0845 603 0891
Healthcare assistants (HCAs) are not currently regulated in the UK. If a patient or member of the public has a complaint about a healthcare assistant, they should raise their concerns with the organisation that the healthcare assistant works for.

Act quickly

If you think there is a risk that the nurse, midwife or nursing associate may pose to patients and the public, you should make us aware immediately.

In some serious cases, it may be necessary for us to act quickly to stop them from working or restrict their practice.

Even if the risk is not immediate, please raise your concern as soon as possible with the nurse, midwife or nursing associate’s employer if applicable. There is no time limit, but the longer ago an incident took place, the more difficult it is to investigate.
What we can't do
We can’t:
- make a nurse, midwife or nursing associate apologise to you
- investigate general concerns about the nurse, midwife or nursing associate’s place of work.
What we can consider
We can consider concerns that are serious enough to raise doubts about whether the nurse, midwife or nursing associate should be allowed to continue to practise as a registered professional, either with some form of restriction on their practice, or at all. Examples of allegations that we can investigate include:
- abuse of professional position, for example an improper sexual relationship with a patient or service user, discrimination against patients and colleagues
- serious or repeated mistakes in patient care
- serious criminal offences
- violence
- dishonesty or fraud
- serious breaches of patient confidentiality
- serious concerns about a nurse, midwife or nursing associate’s knowledge of the English language.
When we investigate, we consider:
- whether the concerns are serious enough to raise concern about a nurse, midwife or nursing associate’s fitness to practise
- whether we can get evidence
- whether the nurse, midwife or nursing associate has addressed the concerns.
Why we might not investigate

If a concern doesn't suggest that their practice should be restricted, we will not investigate. We understand that sometimes people can make mistakes.

Making a mistake doesn’t necessarily mean a they should be stopped from working. When we look at a concern we consider whether it was a one-off event, how serious it was, how much they have reflected on what happened and what they have done since to learn from the mistake.
Working with employers

For employer referrals

Our Employer Link Service provides advice and guidance for employers thinking of making a referral to the NMC because of a concern about a nurse, midwife or nursing associate's fitness to practise.

Find out more about our Employer Link Service

Third party referrals

The employer might be able to deal with the concern themselves and usually more quickly.

They should also be able to help you decide if we need to be involved. They may choose to involve us themselves. If the employer decides to refer the case to us, they can send us all the information from their investigation, which will speed up the process. If you don’t agree with their decision, you can still involve us later.
If for any reason you have concerns about complaining to the employer you can report the matter to us without complaining first to the employer.

For self-referrals

If you’re a nurse, midwife or nursing associate who needs to make a self-referral to us it’s likely that we'll engage your employer when we investigate your referral. If you’ve not already discussed the issue you’d like to refer to us with your employer, then you should consider to doing so.