NMC staff ‘exited’ from regulator over bullying, harassment and racism

Around 18 members of staff have left the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) over bullying, harassment and racist behaviour, as part of the regulator’s work in transforming its culture.

The NMC announced that the staff members ‘have been exited’ from the organisation over the past 20 months ‘for bullying or harassing others, or for being racist.’

The move is part of plans to ‘build a new NMC’ and deliver a three-year cultural transformation programme, after an independent review revealed serious concerns about the regulator, including a ‘toxic culture’ of bullying, harassment and racism.

In March 2025, the nursing regulator revealed its new three-year Culture Transformation Plan which its chief executive and registrar Paul Rees said would be underpinned by a strong anti-racist ethos and aim to build a ‘positive, empowering and inclusive culture’ for its staff and registrants.

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It identified six key pillars to work on; strong and effective leadership, values-based decision-making, embedding equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), ensuring psychological safety, enjoying work, and regulatory fairness.

The NMC has also highlighted several further changes driven by the plan such as rolling out targets to eliminate disparities in the NMC’s regulatory processes, based on ethnicity and gender, and consulting with a group of senior Black, Asian and minority ethnic registrants on concrete measures to meet the targets.

The regulator has also increased the ethnic diversity of panel members who make decisions at Fitness to Practise (FtP) hearings with 26% of lay panel members and 24% of registrant panel members being from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds, compared to 24% and 23%, respectively, in early 2025.

It will also be publishing plans for rolling out anti-racism principles for nursing and midwifery education, to take effect from September 2026.

Mr Rees said the regulator has ‘started to turn a corner as an organisation’ as they work towards ‘building a new NMC’.

‘Under the plan, we’ve introduced a new set of NMC values, alongside a behaviour guide for all our staff, defining the behaviours we expect of everyone who works at the NMC,’ he said.

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‘To help ensure lasting culture change, we’ve invested in one of the biggest coaching programmes for managers in any UK healthcare regulator – including compulsory coaching for managers on embedding equity, diversity and inclusion.

‘We’ve also rolled out targets to drive fairness in our regulatory processes and for our staff.

‘We’re beginning to see positive signs of change. I’m frequently stopped by staff in the corridor or on the fringes of meetings, saying how different things feel to a year ago.

‘There’s still a long road ahead, but we’re making significant progress and becoming the strong and independent regulator that everyone wants to see.’

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Five expert coaches are supporting all NMC managers to give them ‘practical tools’ to lead its culture transformation.

Other changes introduced as part of the programme include launching a behaviour framework for staff which guides how NMC colleagues make decisions, treat each other and carry out their responsibilities.