NMC publishes culture transformation plan

The new culture will be underpinned by a strong anti-racist ethos and a commitment to improve the experience for the public and nursing and midwifery professionals.

The plan has been produced following the Independent Culture Review, by Nazir Afzal and Rise Associates, published last July – with the report finding shocking bullying, racism and discrimination.

When Interim Chief Executive and Registrar Paul Rees MBE joined the NMC in late January, he hosted a series of listening events with colleagues – with six face-to-face town hall meetings and one online event, with a total of 770 employees – in order to find out how colleagues wanted the culture to be transformed.

The feedback given to Paul, at the events, was similar to that given to Nazir Afzal.

Some colleagues said they love working for the organisation, but others said they still face racism, discrimination and bullying.

Others still, highlighted concerns that the organisation was too hierarchical, bureaucratic and siloed.

The Culture Transformation Plan is based on six pillars:

• Strong and effective leadership
• Values-based decision-making
• Embedding equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI)
• Ensuring psychological safety
• Enjoying work, and
• Regulatory fairness.

Through the plan, the NMC aims to create a culture of coaching – with five expert coaches appointed to coach all managers and give them practical tools to lead the transformation of the culture.

The plan will also lead to the rolling out of new strategies to promote race and gender equity for colleagues and race equity for registrants in our processes. It will help to tackle the hierarchical and bureaucratic nature of the organisation by giving more junior colleagues direct routes to raise issues with senior management.

The NMC will take a continuous improvement approach to managing the culture change programme, regularly reflecting on progress and refining activities in light of feedback.

It is hoped that the new culture will:

• Empower our managers to be better leaders
• Drive higher morale, better performance and improved outcomes
• Help the NMC to improve the timeliness of our fitness to practise casework
• Enable the NMC to better regulate and support nursing and midwifery professionals to deliver good care
• Improve employee experience, with colleagues enjoying working in an inclusive organisation where success is celebrated, poor performance is rooted out, and people can be themselves at work.

Enabling wider improvement

Culture transformation is the first pillar of the NMC’s wider corporate plan for 2025-2026, which aims to win back trust and confidence in our ability to protect the public through the effective regulation of nurses, midwives and nursing associates. The other pillars are:

• Strengthening leadership at the organisation to drive change – a largely new executive team and a clear coaching approach will drive change by equipping our managers to be great leaders
• Improving fitness to practise – we know we need to improve at pace and resolve concerns as early as possible while not overburdening our colleagues
• Maintaining our other core regulatory functions – we will focus on setting and evolving our standards to meet the needs of today’s workforce, while ensuring the standards remain fit for the future
• Addressing our most significant challenges – we will manage risks including our financial position, the integrity of our register, safeguarding and education quality assurance.

We are asking Council to approve our corporate plan at its meeting next Wednesday (26 March).

Paul Rees MBE, NMC Interim Chief Executive and Registrar, said:

“When I joined the NMC in January, I committed to delivering a clear vision and plan in March that would create a positive, empowering and inclusive culture for everyone. I’m delighted that we’re now taking this plan forward, underpinned by a strong anti-racist ethos and a commitment to improve the regulatory experience for the public and nursing and midwifery professionals. 

“I'm grateful to the hundreds of NMC staff who attended engagement events and shared their views to help shape this plan. This feedback is vital to understanding how we can roll out meaningful change and deliver regulatory processes that are faster, fairer and more effective.

“The culture transformation plan will be pivotal to successfully delivering our wider priorities as we work to win back the confidence of the public, nursing and midwifery professionals, stakeholders and employees.”

Read the NMC’s culture transformation plan

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