The job title of ‘nurse’ will be given protection in law to ensure only those with the right training and registration can use it, the government has announced.
The move by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) follows a campaign by nursing leaders and MP Dawn Butler.
“We think this will be a really important step for not only patient safety but the profession going forward”
Alison Leary
On International Nurses Day, the DHSC has confirmed that it will introduce measures to protect the ‘nurse’ title in law.
The changes, which the government said would be introduced during this parliament as part of wider health and care regulation reforms, will make it a crime for anyone to call themselves a nurse without the relevant qualifications and registration.
Those who flout the law will face fines worth thousands of pounds, said the DHSC.
Health and social care secretary Wes Streeting said: “The British people hold nurses in the highest regard, and we trust them in our most vulnerable moments, so patients need to know they are genuinely being seen by a nurse. Now they will.”
Currently, ‘registered nurse’ is protected in law, but the more commonly used title of ‘nurse’ is not.
The loophole has allowed for misuse of ‘nurse’ and has meant that people struck off the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) or those with no nursing qualifications at all have been able to call themselves a nurse.
The Protect Nurse campaign has been working for several years to try and change the law so that ‘nurse’ can only be used by those registered as such with the NMC, as well as dental, nursery and veterinary nurses.
Ms Butler, Labour MP for Brent East, has been advocating the campaign in parliament and she put forward the Nurse (Use of Title) Bill.
Alison Leary
Professor Alison Leary, one of the nurses behind Protect Nurse, welcomed the government announcement as a “step forward” for patient safety and the nursing profession.
She told Nursing Times: “We are absolutely delighted. We think this is a really big step forward for patient safety.
“We’d like to thank everybody who supported the campaign, and we think this will be a really important step for not only patient safety but the profession going forward.”
The announcement has been welcomed by healthcare organisations including the NMC, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), the Queen’s Institute of Community Nursing, the Institute of Health Visiting, the Florence Nightingale Foundation, Unison and the Patients Association.
RCN general secretary and chief executive Professor Nicola Ranger said: “This is an important moment for our safety-critical profession, after years of campaigning.
“A change in the law will recognise the knowledge, professionalism and clinical expertise that comes with being a registered nurse.
“It will provide better legal protections for nursing professionals and reassurance to patients.
“Crucially, this is an opportunity to begin the journey to properly valuing nursing as a profession, where respect, reward and investment match the crucial nature of our work.”
More on the Protect Nurse campaign
