Petition urges NMC to prioritise mental health during FtP

It comes amid ongoing concerns about the number of nurses who have died by suicide while under or having concluded an FtP investigation.

“We are hoping through our petition that finally some robust risk assessments, done throughout the process, will be put in place”

Cathryn Watters

NMC Watch, a group that advocates for registrants going through the FtP proceedings, launched a petition on 9 October which had amassed more than 400 signatures at the time of writing.

The petition calls on the NMC to “put mental health support mechanisms at the forefront of their operations”.

It said making mental health support accessible to nurses and midwives should “not be an afterthought” and should instead be a fundamental priority for the regulator.

The NMC confirmed in the summer that 16 nurses and midwives are known to have died by suicide since 2018 during or after an FtP investigation.

The highest number was in 2023-24 when five nurses and midwives died by suicide during the FtP process.

However, NMC Watch said it believed this number was higher, citing 27 deaths it was aware of since 2016.

Cathryn Watters, founder of the group, told Nursing Times that NMC Watch had been contacted by three registrants in the last month alone who had attempted to take their own lives “due to the pressures of being under FtP”.

“NMC Watch has been pressuring the NMC for a number of years to improve their safeguarding over registrants’ mental health during FtP,” she said.

“We are hoping through our petition that finally some robust risk assessments, done throughout the process, will be put in place with proper escalation tools when registrants show deteriorating mental health to prioritise this important issue.”

Improving registrants’ experience of FtP has been a central priority for the NMC in recent months.

Earlier this year, the NMC signed off a record £30m investment in FtP as part of an 18-month plan to gradually reduce the delays in closing cases.

Within this plan, the regulator created a strand of work dedicated to improving how it supports and engages with nurses and midwives going through the process.

It recently made appointments to increase the capacity to drive this work forward and, in the coming months, will be running pilots to test improvements.

In response to the petition, NMC executive director of professional regulation, Lesley Maslen, said: “We’re sorry to anyone whose wellbeing has suffered as a result of going through our fitness to practise processes.

“Our regulatory work brings us into contact with people in difficult or vulnerable circumstances, and we have not always taken the appropriate actions at the right point.

“To better protect people, we are now prioritising safeguarding in our regulatory work.”

Ms Maslen noted that the NMC had “invested significantly” in a central safeguarding team and had launched a safeguarding hub to identify any support someone may need at the earliest point in the FtP process.

She added: “We welcome the ongoing test and challenge from people who have lived experiences of our regulatory work.

“It’s important that we’re held to account as we work towards our goal of improving the safety and quality of people’s experiences within our processes.

“We will work with professionals, our partners and the public to help us shape this critical work.”

Since October 2019, the NMC has provided an independent Careline, run by specially trained counsellors, who provide confidential emotional and practical support 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to professionals involved in FtP.

Nurses and midwives can contact the careline on 0800 587 7396.

If you, or someone you know, is struggling to cope and need someone to talk to, Samaritans offers 24-hour support – call 116 123. Alternatively, email jo@samaritans.org for a less-immediate response.