NMC to take more proactive approach to education quality assurance

The NMC quality assures nursing, midwifery and nursing associate programmes to protect the public – by ensuring students gain the skills, knowledge and experience they need to deliver safe, equitable care.

The regulator’s oversight body, the Professional Standards Authority (PSA), has highlighted this as an area for improvement as the NMC continues work to address legacy operational challenges. In particular, the PSA noted an overreliance on self-reporting by education providers.

The NMC will now address this with a more proactive approach, using two monitoring methods.

The first is thematic programme monitoring – looking at a specific theme across selected NMC-approved programmes. The first thematic monitoring activity, beginning later this year, will focus on monitoring how well equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) are embedded within programmes.

The second method is AEI monitoring, which will look across an individual institution’s quality assurance arrangements for all the NMC-approved programmes it delivers. This will begin in early 2027.

The strengthened monitoring will be delivered in partnership with the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), whose independent visitors will lead quality assurance visits alongside an NMC observer.

From the visitors’ reports, the NMC will assess whether each approved programme continues to be delivered in line with regulatory standards. Unlike the previous monitoring model, which assessed each standard or requirement as ‘met’ or ‘not met’, monitoring outcomes will be graded – enabling the NMC to identify and share good practice across the education sector.

Where the regulator identifies risks, it will agree proportionate remedial action and timescales with AEIs.

Chris Dzikiti, Executive Director of Professional Practice, said:

“It’s vital that midwifery and nursing students are prepared to deliver safe, equitable care from the moment they join the Register. Introducing a new approach to proactive monitoring of education programmes is an important step in strengthening how we provide quality assurance and share best practice across the sector.

“We’ve listened carefully to feedback from students, educators and partners to inform our strengthened approach, which is designed to be fair, consistent and constructive.

“By focusing our first thematic monitoring activity on how equity, diversity and inclusion are embedded in programmes, we can support education providers to create learning environments where every student can thrive – and where future professionals are equipped to provide culturally safe, inclusive care.”

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