There is still a ‘long way to go’ on improving the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s (NMC) fitness to practise (FtP) caseload and process, a council meeting has heard.
There has been a gradual decline in the nursing regulator’s FtP caseload since the start of this year, but the caseload number is still above what it was during the same period in 2024.
Speaking at an NMC meeting today, Lesley Maslen, executive director of professional regulation, accepted that there was still a ‘long way to go’ on improving the FtP referral process.
However, she said it was ‘heartening’ to see an improvement in the NMC’s caseload figures.
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A gradual fall in caseload
The overall FtP caseload for March 2025 stood at 6,357 – down 141 from the month before but above the 5,994-caseload figure for March 2024.
Most (63%) of open cases are still outside of their timeliness target for the FtP stage that they are at, down only 1% from February 2024.
The regulator received an average of 546 referrals per month between April 2024 and March 2025 compared to the same period the year before (493).
A record 806 screening decisions were made in March, beating the NMC’s previous peak of 797 decisions for January of this year.
Since April 2024, the regulator has completed 10,405 FtP cases with an average of 867 decisions per month. This is an improvement on the previous 12-month average of 780.
The average age of cases is also gradually falling, with a median caseload age of 19 weeks for March 2025, compared to 20 weeks the month prior.
Today, Ms Maslen pointed to how this time last year the NMC had 3,308 cases in its caseload that were 18 months old and over, a figure which has fallen to 2,010 today.
‘That shows that our efforts to focus and really drive through the oldest cases is working effectively,’ she said.
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She explained that ongoing police investigations were a common reason for delayed referral outcomes, as well as the limited availability of registrants and witnesses, alongside the challenge in arranging hearing dates.
She added that she and the NMC’s interim chief executive, Paul Rees, had recently met with the chief nurse for adult social care, Professor Deborah Sturdy, to discuss FtP rates for adult social care nursing staff and to ensure the regulator was not ‘focusing purely on the NHS’.
The NMC has also recorded a change in where referrals are coming from, with most referrals coming from employers for March 2025.
This shifts the trend from April 2024 to February 2025 where most FtP referrals came from members of the public.
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