Content area
Full Text
Nurse unions are challenging Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) advice stating that nurses who delegate work to support staff are accountable for their mistakes.
The RCN argues that the NMC guidance, issued last week, is a 'recipe for confusion' and could leave nurses vulnerable legally and professionally when they delegate even simple tasks.
Fitness to practise
The guidance states: 'A registrant who delegates aspects of care to another remains accountable for the appropriateness of that delegation and will be held accountable for the actions of the person carrying out that delegated task. If the registrant fails to leave instructions when they should have done, their fitness to practise may be brought into question.'
Yet the NMC Code of Professional Conduct says nurses are accountable only for the appropriateness of the delegation, for ensuring the person who does...