An audit into the way the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) operates, with particular reference to its complaints procedure, has highlighted “significant weaknesses”, leading to terms of how the regulator is to be reviewed being released this week.

Although signs of improvement had been recognised by the Commons Health Committee last summer, it stated that there were no justifications for the 41% rise in complaints in the previous twelve months towards nursing staff, which has led to a new review being conducted.

The committee remained very concerned about the “existence of low standards of basic nursing care in our acute hospitals and care homes, which appear to be in breach of the code of conduct for nurses and midwives”.

David Cameron only last month demanded that nurses should be told to make hourly ward rounds, as although on the whole nursing levels were reasonable, there had been several documented cases in which even basic treatment was not being administered. He remained of the view that nurses should be concerned more-so on “patients not paperwork”, which would ultimately lead to more consistency in the level of care provided.

A report written by the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence (CHRE) supported the view taken by the Health Committee in acknowledging improvements, but maintained that risks to the public still exist; an issue that should hopefully be addressed in the new enquiry.