The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) must deliver “significant and sustained improvement”, a government minister has said, following the controversy surrounding the Christian nurse Jennifer Melle.
Melle was suspended from her role following an incident in which she was accused of misgendering a patient. She was eventually cleared by her employer but remained subject to investigation by the NMC before finally being told she had “no case to answer”.
Melle has subsequently called upon the government to introduce nationwide guidance within the NHS to ensure that what happened to her will never be repeated.
The NMC has been criticised for its prolonged investigation of Melle and Darlington nurses at the centre of another trans NHS row.
In the latest development, Karin Smyth, the Minister of State for Health and Secondary Care, has written a letter to Melle saying the government takes the “performance of the Nursing and Midwifery Council very seriously” and that the NMC “must continue to deliver a significant and sustained improvement in performance, particularly in relation to Fitness to Practise processes”.
The minister also stressed that the NMC is now under new leadership and was attempting to address “inherited” issues.
Responding to the letter, Melle said, “After everything I have been through, it is significant that a government minister has now acknowledged the distress and professional damage caused by this process, and has said clearly that the NMC must significantly improve its Fitness to Practise processes.
“I was referred to my regulator as if I posed some kind of risk to the public. In reality, I was doing my job in a pressured clinical situation, where biological sex was relevant to care, and I was seeking to communicate clearly and safely.”
Melle also repeated her call for clear national guidance, saying that warm words from a minister should not be a substitute for concrete action.
Her call was echoed by the Christian Legal Centre, which has been supporting her in her case.
Andrea Williams, CLC chief executive, said, “The government must now go further than criticising the NMC. It must issue binding national guidance making clear that nurses and healthcare workers cannot be compelled to use preferred pronouns, cannot be punished for their Christian beliefs, and cannot be referred to regulators for refusing to say something they believe is untrue.
“Jennifer’s courage has forced the government to confront the failings of the NMC. Now ministers must act decisively to make sure no other nurse faces the same ordeal.”
