Nurses and Midwives: Fees

Fiona Bruce Excerpts

Monday 23rd March 2015 Westminster Hall

[Fiona Bruce (Congleton) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Havard. I thank the hon. Member for Blaydon (Mr Anderson) for bringing forward the debate, although I do not agree with everything he said. With particular reference to the concerns he expressed on NMC registration fees, I will relay to Members and the Minister the experience of a constituent in Congleton whom I have recently had to assist.

My constituent is a registered general nurse. She qualified in 1987 and has practised as an RGN for 27 years. Sadly, the NMC recently nearly barred her from practising for a period, through no fault of her own. My constituent paid her £100 NMC re-registration fee by automatic bank transfer. The fee was debited from her account in October last year and she heard nothing more about it. She assumed that her re-registration had taken place automatically.

By chance, four months later, at the very beginning of February, my constituent was checking the NMC register regarding a colleague, and she decided to put in her own details. The system had no record for her. She contacted the NMC four times in two days, as she was very concerned. Eventually, she received a response. To her consternation, she was told that her registration had lapsed. She was informed that a form had been sent to her home, but had apparently been returned marked with “No longer resident at this address”, even though she had lived in the same house for four years and continued to receive other correspondence from the NMC throughout the period between October and February. Without contacting her or her employer, or reimbursing her money, the NMC had cut off her registration.

My constituent e-mailed me at the beginning of February, as she was extremely concerned. She said:

“I was then informed I would have to re-register”—

effectively, she had to apply for readmission—

“and could not work as I am no longer registered as a nurse and that sending the initial letters back could take up to 10 days and that I would also have to do a PREP audit which could take a considerable number of weeks to process. I do not have an issue with PREP as I do keep myself updated”.

She told me that last year she not only completed the 35 hours of continuing professional development that she should have done, but that she actually did around 100 hours of CPD. We are talking about a responsible member of her profession. Her issue was

“the length of time I will not be working because of the NMC incompetency. I have never received the renewal for registration form…I have received numerous letters from different departments at the NMC during the periods of October and up until last week”.

That was when she contacted me. Of even more concern is that she was also informed that

“the company I work for could request my wages back from October as I have not been registered or that they could discipline me. This situation is not my doing. I feel the NMC must have sent letters to the wrong address…why would I not receive some and receive others...I feel totally let down by a board that I have continually adhered to since 1987 without any blot on my career as both a Nurse and Midwife and now find myself in this diabolical situation which is not my doing.”

In fact, while my constituent was rather concerned, she continued to work. She needed to work, of course, and sought to correct the NMC’s error by reapplying. She was told that she would have to make a readmission application at the increased fee of £120, which she did. It was only after a number of letters from me and e-mails and calls from my constituent that just last week the NMC confirmed her readmission. She should have had her re-registration confirmed and backdated, but what she has had is an e-mail from the NMC that states:

“I have reviewed your readmission application, and I can now confirm that your readmission process is complete. As of today you are effective on the register with an expiry date of 31 March 2016.”

My constituent has been practising under this pressure for a considerable period. She was readmitted more than a month after she realised the situation and contacted me. She is extremely concerned, and so am I. In my constituent’s experience, the registration system has clearly lacked what I consider to be basic efficiency. It has fallen short of taking a reasonable approach to her. How can the NMC see fit to increase its registration fees in just two years from £76 to £120? Before it considers another increase, it should put its own house in order in respect of its relations with its members.