The vast majority of nurses, midwives and nursing support workers go through their careers without ever needing the support of the RCN Legal Team.
With the largest in-house legal team of any trade union, here we explain why our members may need support and how we can help.
Sometimes problems arise at work. You might be absent for a health reason and wonder what will happen to you. You may have a disability that your employer is failing to accommodate. Perhaps your performance is under scrutiny, you are facing a disciplinary matter, witnessing poor practice or experiencing bullying in the workplace.
Whatever the reason, we have local reps to provide you with support in the workplace, backed up by RCN regional officers who might represent you in hearings before your employer. We also offer a wide range of advice guides covering employment and legal issues.
If the case is sufficiently serious to require legal support, we have a specialist Employment Law team (in Scotland, the support is provided by our panel solicitors) which can take your case to the Employment Tribunal (provided it meets our value and merits threshold). We would hope that nurses, midwives and nursing support workers always receive fair treatment at work. However, in cases where this isn’t happening, our regional and legal teams aim to sort out problems as they arise and keep our members in their workplaces whenever they can.
In 2024 we (our Employment Law team and panel solicitors) recovered damages payments of just over £1.75m that went to RCN members to compensate them for unfair treatment by employers.
In 2024-25 the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) received 6,539 new concerns, an increase from the previous year, when it received 5,774. We have a dedicated in-house legal team which supports RCN members through the NMC process from the moment they receive a referral letter from the NMC to the final decision. In the majority of cases, this is before it is referred for a ‘fitness to practise’ hearing. Many RCN members are surprised at how common errors can result in them facing an NMC investigation.
The most common misconduct allegations heard at the NMC involve:
- poor patient care
- prescribing and medicines management
- poor record keeping
- dishonesty
- failing to keep clear professional boundaries with patients and colleagues.
Dishonesty features frequently in these cases. Many nurses, midwives and nursing support workers do not realise that if they alter a record after the event, this may be treated as evidence that they are dishonest.
Nurses, midwives and nursing support workers need to be especially careful that they don’t exaggerate their CVs by claiming, for example, that a partly completed course has been awarded, or that a colleague supplying a reference was a supervisor rather than a peer. One of the most common dishonesty scenarios is the nurse who works a bank shift while signed off sick from their main job.
RCN members represented by the legal team are encouraged to fully engage with the process and are supported to present their best case. This includes taking steps to put any deficiencies in their practice right and obtaining evidence of strengthening practice to demonstrate they can be considered safe and insightful practitioners.
It is an obligation under The Code (NMC, 2018) that you tell the NMC and your employer as soon as you can if you are charged with an offence, or you have received a conviction or a caution. Failure to do so can lead to a further accusation that you have not been open and honest with your regulator, which is treated seriously. There are some other situations when something has happened that has not resulted in a caution or conviction, but you may still need to tell the NMC.
Please contact our advice team if you have been referred to the NMC or if you have concerns about your registration. Please also see our information about NMC issues.
The good news is that RCN data shows that members of the RCN are more likely to come out of the NMC process with a less serious outcome or no sanction at all.
Therefore, if something has gone wrong, you should contact the RCN as quickly as possible and make sure that you benefit from the service that is there for you when you need it.
All nurses, midwives and nursing support workers must obtain a DBS (formerly CRB) certificate before they can work with the public. Occasionally there are problems with checks by the DBS or Disclosure Scotland. These can include, in the enhanced disclosure section, details of accusations that have been made against them, even if these were never tested in court. An entry might set out the nature of the allegation.
This can sound very serious, such as “Ms X was investigated for abuse of an elderly patient” and might conclude: “A prosecution was not pursued due to insufficient evidence.” It could be that the patient was someone who was confused and had made many complaints about other health care professionals. An entry of this type can ruin a career. Where it is clearly unfair for this sort of information to be included, the RCN Legal Team has successfully challenged certificates and removed damaging entries.
The DBS also runs a barring scheme for those who are deemed too much of a risk to work with children or vulnerable adults. Those listed on its register are barred from that work for 10 years. If you receive a letter from the DBS, please contact our advice team immediately. Our online information may also be helpful.
When a patient dies, in some circumstances, there will be an inquest. Every year coroners hold about 30,000 inquests. You may be called to give evidence at an inquest. Our website has guidance about the process and tips to bear in mind if you are a witness. Usually, there is nothing to worry about; you are simply assisting the coroner to establish the cause of death.
However, sometimes nurses, midwives or nursing support workers are criticised at an inquest. If you are at risk of criticism, you might require representation and your employer may represent you, or you may need RCN representation.
Further information is available in our Inquest and Fatal Accident Inquiry advice guide. If you are concerned, please contact our advice team. You will be referred to our legal team if you need representation.
You have obligations under The Code (NMC, 2018) to tell the NMC and your employer if you are charged with an offence or you receive a conviction or caution. If you are convicted or cautioned for a crime, both you and the police must report that fact to the NMC. It is also important to take legal advice before accepting a caution for a minor offence.
The police will issue a caution when there is evidence that the offender is guilty, the offence has been admitted, or the offender agrees to a caution. Please note that the NMC will treat the facts of the accepted caution as an admission of the offence. The offender will be advised that a simple caution is not a criminal conviction, but may not realise that it will be recorded on the police database. The fact that it is recorded means that it will be revealed to a prospective or existing employer on a DBS check.
Although it doesn’t necessarily mean that if this happens you will not get a job, the fact of the caution might influence the employer. At the very least, you will need to give an explanation to the employer for the offence and perhaps offer some mitigation.
The lesson from this is that if you are questioned by the police about a suspected criminal offence, wherever it occurs, you should not accept a caution until you have taken legal advice. If the accusation arises from a workplace situation, contact our advice team without delay. It is important that you do not speak to the police without support from us or a Duty Solicitor.
Further information is also available at:
Negligence and patient injury
Nurses, midwives and nursing support workers can find themselves criticised if a patient has been injured through clinical negligence and is suing for compensation. In most cases, the employer and their insurers are defending the case, but you may be involved as a witness. By taking care with your record keeping, you are much less likely to be involved in a clinical negligence action.
Careful record-keeping is vital. When creating records, you need to be sure that they capture the whole picture. For example, some cases query whether the nurse gave a patient clear advice about when to return for further medical advice if their symptoms fail to improve (safety-netting). If the records do not show, with precision, the advice given, the nurse is unable to prove to the court that the right advice was given, and the case may be found against them.
Personal injury
We can support you with a claim for compensation for injuries you suffer following an accident or incident that was not your fault. This may have happened at work or away from work. If successful, you'll keep 100% of your compensation (if you instructed a private solicitor they may retain up to 25% of your compensation as a success fee). In 2024 we recovered more than £3m in compensation for personal injuries suffered by our members. We can also help your family and friends if they have suffered injury through no fault of their own. These claims will be subject to deductions from their compensation to pay for the legal representation.