NMC on course to publish anti-racism principles for nursing and midwifery education and practice

The NMC committed to co-designing the new principles with Black, Asian and minority ethnic people with lived experience of poor outcomes – wide ranging engagement is well under way with three events already held.

The regulator is on course to publish the co-designed principles in late spring, so that universities can prepare to work to them from the start of the next academic year – making anti-racism, bias awareness and cultural curiosity, safety and respect more explicit in their curricula. In the spirit of continuous improvement, this will build on excellent work already being done on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) by many institutions.

The NMC will also roll out the principles to the nursing and midwifery professions, being clear that all nurses, midwives and nursing associates should practise in line with them – ahead of the new Code being published in 2027.

The Code comprises the professional standards of practice and behaviour that apply to every nursing and midwifery professional associate – practising in line with the Code is a regulatory requirement rather than an expectation.

The NMC is currently undertaking the first review of the Code in a decade – and will ensure that the new Code includes stronger behavioural standards on EDI.

Through these interventions in nursing and midwifery education and practice, the NMC is playing its part to tackle health inequalities for racially minoritised groups – with Black women three times more likely, and Asian women 1.3 times more likely, to die during pregnancy or in the immediate postnatal period compared with White women.

The shocking figures – from the charity MBRRACE-UK – also show that Black babies are over twice as likely to be stillborn as white babies – with Asian babies 50% more likely to be stillborn.

In February this year, Baroness Amos, who is leading the Independent Investigation into Maternity and Neonatal Services in England, told of her great concern at the levels of racism and discrimination her team has heard about, including exhibited by staff towards women and families – as well as between staff, and by women and families towards staff.

And in September last year, a report from the Health and Social Care Committee was clear that racism is ‘one of the core drivers’ of poor maternal outcomes for Black women – as MPs heard from clinical experts and women about cases where racist assumptions had directly harmed Black women’s care.

Further reports from Five x More and Birthrights add to the growing evidence base that there are stark disparities in maternal outcomes.

Paul Rees MBE, Chief Executive and Registrar, said:

“The fact that Black, Asian and minority ethnic women and babies are still more likely to die during pregnancy or in the immediate postnatal period is nothing short of a national emergency.

“One reason why such inequities persist is that racism persists across society – in fact it is growing, as we saw last year with a summer or rising tensions across the UK.

“Driving out racism is a shared responsibility between everyone working in the maternity and wider healthcare safety systems – midwives, nurses and other professionals, as well as educators, employers, managers and leaders, government and regulators.

“For our part, we’re delivering on our promise of new anti-racism principles for nursing and midwifery education and practice – to be published in the coming weeks.

“We’ve also launched the first review of the NMC Code – which guides all midwives, nurses and nursing associates in their daily practice – in a decade. We’re taking the opportunity to place a much greater emphasis on EDI within the new Code.

“None of these interventions in isolation will solve the Black maternal health and wider disparities in health and care – but as important interventions in a system-wide package of measures, they will make a meaningful and lasting difference, for the benefit of Black, Asian and minority ethnic women, babies and families.”

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