Nurses and midwives who should have been banned from treating patients worked for up to 12 years

Published: 23:01, 27 May 2026 | Updated: 23:05, 27 May 2026 More than a dozen nurses and midwives who should have been banned from treating patients continued to work after the regulator failed to properly assess them over a 12-year period. The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) apologised for the failing, describing it as 'completely and utterly unacceptable'. The NMC maintains a register of more than 860,000 staff that are eligible to practise. Nurses and midwives must declare any health or character issues that may prevent them being able to practise safely, which are then referred to an assistant registrar to assess. It emerged in February that over the 12 years applications which included declarations were not consistently referred to an assistant registrar.  And up to 15 nurses or midwives who should have been removed from the register have been allowed to continue practising. The NMC expects they will be removed from the register following a review. But the nursing union said a 'vague apology will not suffice' and called for an independent investigation. Professor Lynn Woolsey, chief nursing officer of the Royal College of Nursing, said: 'It is a potentially dangerous regulatory failing that individuals made appropriate declarations regarding criminal convictions and/or health conditions over such a long period of time without appropriate checks to determine their fitness to practise.' The Nursing and Midwifery Council apologised for the failing, describing it as 'completely and utterly unacceptable' (file image) Since February, when a member of staff raised concerns, a team of paralegals have been assessing more than 18,000 applications from the period. It is now contacting more than 400 nurses and midwives for more information to assist a review by an assistant registrar. Paul Rees, NMC chief executive and registrar, said: 'I would like to apologise for the fact that for a period of 12 years, we failed to ensure that all health and character declarations were assessed in line with our full process. This is completely and utterly unacceptable. 'The NMC has faced a challenging period for a number of years, culminating in the publication of the Independent Culture Review, in July 2024, which highlighted the organisation was affected with a range of problems, including bullying, harassment, racism and failures of systems.' No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.