The Nursing and Midwifery Council is the regularity body for all nurses and midwives in the UK. They set standards of education, training, conduct and performance and can investigate those who fall short of the standards.
http://www.nmc-uk.org/Publications/Standards/
1 May 2008
The people in your care must be able
to trust you with their health and wellbeing.
To justify that trust, you must:
• make the care of people your first concern, treating them as individuals and respecting their dignity
• work with others to protect and promote the health and wellbeing of those in your care, their families and carers, and the wider community
• provide a high standard of practice and care at all times
• be open and honest, act with integrity and uphold the reputation of your profession.
As a professional, you are personally accountable for actions and omissions in your
practice, and must always be able to justify your decisions. You must always act lawfully, whether those laws relate to your professional practice or personal life.
Failure to comply with this code may bring your fitness to practise into question and
endanger your registration.
This code should be considered together with the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s
(NMC) rules, standards, and guidance available from www.nmc-uk.org
The code ~
Make the care of people your first concern, treating them as individuals and respecting their dignity.
Treat people as individuals:
1. You must treat people as individuals and respect their dignity.
2. You must not discriminate in any way against those in your care.
3. You must treat people kindly and considerately.
4. You must act as an advocate for those in your care, helping them to access
relevant health and social care, information and support.
Respect people’s confidentiality:
5. You must respect people’s right to confidentiality.
6. You must ensure people are informed about how and why information is shared by
those who will be providing their care.
7. You must disclose information if you believe someone may be at risk of harm, in
line with the law of the country in which you are practising.
Collaborate with those in your care:
8. You must listen to the people in your care and respond to their concerns and preferences.
9. You must support people in caring for themselves to improve and maintain their health.
10. You must recognise and respect the contribution that people make to their own
care and wellbeing.
11. You must make arrangements to meet people’s language and communication needs.
12. You must share with people, in a way they can understand, the information they want or need to know about their health.
. . . .
Ensure you gain consent:
13. You must ensure that you gain consent before you begin any treatment or care.
14. You must respect and support people’s rights to accept or decline treatment and care.
15. You must uphold people’s rights to be fully involved in decisions about their care.
16. You must be aware of the legislation regarding mental capacity, ensuring that people who lack capacity remain at the centre of decision making and are fully safeguarded.
17. You must be able to demonstrate that you have acted in someone’s best interests if you have provided care in an emergency.