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  • Colleague form
Progress: 5% complete
 

Make a referral as a colleague

We need accurate information to assess all the concerns that are raised with us and do something about them if we deem them serious. Making sure referrals are appropriate for us and contain all information required means we can act and respond quickly.

This referral form is to be used by healthcare professionals who want to refer another nurse, midwife or nursing associate to us.

If you’re a member of the public or a third party organisation, please use our other referral forms

If you have any questions or if you need this form in a different format or you need assistance raising your concern, please get in touch with us.

Are you whistleblowing or raising a concern?

Whistleblowing is when a worker, including a student nurse or student midwife, raises a concern about wrongdoing in the public interest.

Whistleblowing can take place within an organisation or, if the person feels they are unable to do this, to a third person known as a ‘prescribed person’. The NMC is named as a prescribed person in the law.

There is a difference between raising concerns and whistleblowing, and we have an independant whistleblowing service. 

If you're not sure which service you should use, please read the criteria that must be met to qualify a concern as whistleblowing.



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Before you begin raising your concern, please note

  • you'll need an email address to complete this form
  • you'll need to complete the form in one go
  • you can't save it and come back later
  • you'll lose your answers if you leave the page, refresh the page or use your browser's back button.

What you’ll need before completing this form

  • the name of the person (or people) you’re raising a concern about (or any other information we can use to identify them).
  • if possible, the nurse or midwife’s Personal Identification Number.
  • details of their employer (organisation name and contact details)
  • a description of what happened
  • the address of where the incident happened
  • the dates and times of when the incident happened
  • details of any concerns you've already raised with the nurse, midwife, or nursing associate’s place of work.
  • details of any other people who saw what happened.

Information you might want to upload

You’ll be able to upload information when you fill in this form. This could include:

  • photos showing what happened
  • emails or letters about your concern that you've sent to the nurse, midwife or nursing associate’s place of work
  • any replies you got from the nurse, midwife or nursing associate’s place of work.

About the nurse, midwife or nursing associate

* Required fields

We can only investigate nurses, midwives or nursing associates

Please note: By law, we can only to investigate concerns about nurses, midwives or nursing associates.

If your concern is about another type of health professional you could:

  • complain to the person’s place of work
  • complain to the regulator for that type of health professional. We’ve listed these below.
Type of health professional Regulator Phone number
Doctors General Medical Council (GMC) 0845 357 8001
Dentists, dental therapists, dental hygienists, dental nurses, dental technicians, clinical dental technicians and orthodontic therapists General Dental Council (GDC) 020 7887 3800
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 Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) 020 7582 0866
Opticians General Optical Council (GOC) 020 7580 3898
Chiropractors General Chiropractic Council (GCC) 020 7713 5155
Osteopaths General Osteopathic Council (GOsC) 020 7357 6655
Pharmacists, pharmacy technicians (on the voluntary register) and pharmacy premises General Pharmaceutical Council (GPC) 020 3365 3400
Health and adult social care services in England Care Quality Commission 03000 616161
Makes final decisions on complaints that have not been resolved by the NHS in England Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) 0345 015 4033
Social care workers, qualified social workers, and social work students on approved degree courses in Wales Care Council for Wales 0845 070 0399
Social care workers, qualified social workers, and social work students on approved degree courses in Northern Ireland Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISCC) 02890 417600
02890 239340 (Text phone)
Pharmacists and pharmacy premises in Northern Ireland Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI) 02890 326927
Social care workers, qualified social workers, and social work students on approved degree courses in Scotland Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) 0845 603 0891
Healthcare assistants (HCAs) Healthcare assistants aren’t currently regulated in the UK. If you have a complaint about a healthcare assistant, contact their place of work.  

What support you may need during the fitness to practise process

During our fitness to practise process, you might need to give us more details in writing, talk through your experience with a member of our team or receive written information from us.

We know that these things can be difficult for some people, and we want to provide you with the best support possible. For example, some people might want to only talk to us over the phone or have someone to support them through our process, like an advocate.

We've got lots of information on our website about the process that we'd recommend looking at before submitting your concerns. It'll help give you an idea of what to expect and what support you might need.

What support might you need from us during the fitness to practise process?

About you

We'll normally need to contact you to ask for more information about the concern you’ve raised with us.

We use your contact details to keep you updated on our investigation, but we never share your contact details with anyone else.

Are you happy to share your contact details with us? 

* Required fields

About you

Reasonable adjustments

We’re committed to making adjustments to make sure that our processes are accessible for everyone.

Please tell us if there is anything we can do to make this process more accessible and easier for you.

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The nurse, midwife or nursing associate's details

Nurse, midwife or nursing associate 1

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About the nurse, midwife or nursing associate

Please provide as much detail as possible, including your contact with the individual you’re referring and any dates in question.

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No files selected Remove

Please note: you can only upload the following file types - pdf, doc, docx, jpg and jpeg.

There is a 10MB limit to each file, you must select and upload all of your files in one go. You'll need to upload all your files in one go, if you upload the wrong file you can delete and upload again.

* Required fields

About the nurse, midwife or nursing associate

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You can find information on how to answer this question in our raising concerns guidance or our whistleblowing policy.

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About the nurse, midwife or nursing associate’s employer

If yes, please let us know who you informed, when you did so and how the they responded.

If you didn’t feel able to involve their place of work, please let us know us why.

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* Required fields

About the incident or incidents

Please name the specific wards, departments or units where the incident or incidents took place. If this was across different locations, please include all below.

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Please use the following format (day/month/year)

Please describe what happened in as much detail as possible.

If there wasn’t one incident but smaller incidents over time, please describe all these incidents in as much detail as possible.

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* Required fields

Witness information

Telling us about anyone else who was there will help us investigate what happened.

Please note that where you provide contact information for witnesses, we may contact them without first telling you.

Witness 1

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Other organisations

For example, if you contacted the police, please let us know the name of the officer you contacted, their details and any responses they’ve made.

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* Required fields

Sharing information and submit your referral

We’ll use the information you’ve provided in this form in accordance with our our privacy notice and our Fitness to Practise information handling guidance.

By agreeing and submitting your concern, you give us permission to share this referral form, any supporting information and any other information you provide during the course of our investigation.

It might be necessary for us to share this information to the nurse, midwife or nursing associate, their employer and any other relevant party we identify.

You can make a referral without providing giving us permission to share the information in this referral, but we might still need to act on the information that you have provided and share this information as a result.

We’ll explain this to you if this is the case.

* Required fields

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