Response to NMC consultation 'Shaping the future'
Social Work England response to NMC consultation 'Shaping the future'
Letter to Candace Imison, Director of Strategy Development, Nursing and Midwifery Council
17 October 2019
Dear Ms. Imison,
Re: NMC consultation - ‘Shaping the future’
We welcome the opportunity to comment on the development of NMC’s five-year strategy and provide some feedback below which we hope will support that work.
About us
Social Work England is a specialist body taking a new approach to regulating social workers in their vital roles. We believe in the power of collaboration and share a common goal with those we regulate—to protect the public, enable positive change and ultimately improve people’s lives.
Consultation feedback
After considering the consultation proposals and attending your stakeholder event, we note the scale of engagement and outreach the NMC has undertaken. We are pleased to see an emphasis on ongoing engagement, both with registrants and the public, to build and improve relationships. We think some of the language could be strengthened around co-production and collaboration and note from our own experience that such commitments bring a necessary evaluation of ways of working, resources and finances.
At Social Work England, we have responsibilities and opportunities relating to setting standards for, and the education quality assurance of Approved Mental Health Professionals (AMHPs) and Best Interest Assessors (BIAs). Our work in this area will necessarily engage NMC registrants and potential registrants who also wish to practise in these roles. In line with proposed theme 1 priority (2), we believe that it will be important for us to work with the NMC so that there is a consistent approach in the training and identification of AMHPs and BIAs, so that the public, employers, and other stakeholders are able to identify, and be assured of, the regulation of these practitioners.
We note and support theme 1, proposed priority (3) to use evaluation to develop and improve your CPD process. We are currently consulting on our own proposal for CPD. This has been a topic of particular interest to social workers during our engagement and is an important part of our work to raise standards in the profession. Part of our own proposal, similar to your priority (3), is to use our first year of regulation as an opportunity to learn more about social workers and how they learn to inform our future approach to CPD and wider regulatory activity.
We agree with the importance of working together with other regulators and partners, as per you emerging theme 5. Our professions, for example, are closely linked and social workers are increasingly working side by side with NMC professions to support people. We welcome the opportunity to work with the NMC and other regulators to explore how we learn about integrated and collaborative working and consider opportunities together that support our professions to raise standards and improve outcomes for people.
I hope you find this feedback helpful.
Yours sincerely
Colum Conway