The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has appointed a new executive director of strategy and insight.
Emma Westcott, who has been working as the acting executive director of strategy and insight since February, will now take on the role on a substantive basis with immediate effect.
The strategy and insight team uses data to improve the NMC’s understanding of health and care systems and has recently published reports on registration, revalidation and fitness to practise (FtP), among other topics.
Related Article: Cabinet Office director to lead NMC culture change efforts
Before acting in the executive director post, Ms Wescott worked as assistant director in the strategy and insight team.
In her time at the NMC, she also headed the regulator’s first insight publications and led the regulation of nursing associates when the role was first introduced in England in 2019
Ms Westcott has also held national policy and research roles in regulation, local government and higher education.
‘I am a regulator because I want the nursing and midwifery professions to benefit from excellent education, and to maintain good standards, so that the public experience care that is safe, expert and equitable,’ Ms Wescott said.
Related Article: Still ‘long way to go’ on improving FtP process
She added that her role will ensure the NMC has ‘effective policy, sound analysis, and strong evidence’ as it works through a period of significant change.
Paul Rees, NMC interim chief executive and registrar, said Ms Wescott will bring ‘crucial organisational memory’ to the NMC’s executive board.
‘She has helped to build a strategy and insight directorate which is helping to drive learning and improvement within our own regulatory processes and providing important insights from our work to the wider health and care sector,’ Mr Rees explained.
Related Article: Still ‘long way to go’ on improving FtP process
Earlier in May, an NMC Council meeting recognised that the regulator still had a ‘long way to go’ in improving its FtP caseload, despite some recent progress.
