The new Code and what it means for midwives

The current Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) (2008)Code was published close to 7 years ago. This not only predated the reforms following the ‘liberation of the NHS' (Department of Health, 2010), which many referred to as the biggest shakeup in NHS history, but also came before important inquiries into patient safety, such as the Francis (2013) report and the Berwick (2013) review, among others.

Jackie Smith, Chief Executive and Registrar of the NMC says that the revised Code, which will come into effect on 31 March 2015, is a response to these inquiries, as well as the dramatic changes to health care and public expectation, and, of course, is a forerunner to the new model of revalidation being launched at the end of 2015. ‘This Code is taking into account the change to the landscape in health care, dealing with particular issues around fundamentals of care, making sure patients get fed and watered, for example, and focusing on the need to be open and honest when things go wrong—so the duty of candour,’ said Jackie in an interview with the British Journal of Midwifery the day after the publication of the new Code.