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How to complain about a nurse or midwife

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) regulates nurses, midwives and nursing associates. This is how to raise a concern about one.

Use this route if

Your concern is about a nurse, midwife or nursing associate, and it is serious enough to question whether they are safe to keep practising. The NMC looks at fitness to practise. It cannot award you money or settle a one-off dispute about care.

Step by step

1. Call the helpline first. Ring 020 3307 6802. It is the quickest way to check you are in the right place and to understand what they need.
2. Have you raised it with the employer? The NMC will often ask whether you have told the hospital first. You do not always have to, but it helps to mention it.
3. Make your referral. Use the online route or the member-of-the-public referral form linked from the page above.
4. Describe what happened in plain words. Give the name, the date, and the ward or place it happened.
5. Decide about your details. You can choose whether to share your contact details. Giving them lets the NMC keep you updated.

What to include

• The name of the nurse, midwife or nursing associate
• The date, and the ward or place where it happened
• What happened and why it worries you
• Anything that supports what you say

What it costs

Nothing. Raising a concern with the NMC is free.

What can happen, and how long it takes

If you give your contact details, the NMC aims to acknowledge your referral within a couple of working days. Many concerns are closed at an early screening stage. Where a case goes further, the process can take many months. Outcomes range from no action or advice, through to a caution, conditions on practice, suspension, or being struck off the register.