The Government is to legislate to protect the title ‘nurse’ in law, it has been announced Claiming to be a nurse without the right credentials or after being struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) will be classed as a criminal offence. This follows the rise of people wrongfully claiming the title to run rogue aesthetic clinics or spread misinformation on COVID-19.
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‘Nurses carry out lifesaving work every day, and I am determined we do everything we can to support them and safeguard trust in the profession. I’ve been appalled to read reports of so-called nurses spreading dangerous misinformation and harming the public,’ said Health Secretary Wes Streeting. ‘This new legislation will help crack down on bogus beauticians and conspiracy theorists masquerading as nurses, and those attempting to mislead patients.’
Campaigners have long argued that a change in the law is necessary to protect the public from receiving health services or information from people who they wrongly believe to be professional nurses. At the present time only the term ‘registered nurse’ is protected by law, but the proposed legislation means only those registered by the NMC will be able to claim the title. Breaking the law could result in consequences from fines to being prosecuted for manslaughter.
‘Nurses and the millions of people they care for will benefit by this proposed change in legislation. This is a patient safety issue that the QICN has been campaigning on for some time,’ said Dr Crystal Oldman CBE, Chief Executive at the Queen’s Institute of Community Nursing. ‘People need confidence that when the person caring for them is described as a nurse, that person really is a qualified and registered nurse.’