More than 10,000 people have joined the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s (NMC) emergency register as the UK continues to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
The professional regulator’s register was only launched three weeks ago and was initially for nursing and midwifery professionals who had voluntarily left the professions within the last three years.
Recently the NMC invited some nurses and midwives with overseas qualifications who are based in the UK, and those who left the register within the last four and five years, to also join the COVID-19 temporary register.
The details of these temporary registrants are being shared with health and care organisations across all four countries of the UK, who are working hard to match them with employers and ensure they access appropriate training, support and equipment.
‘We need nurses and midwives with all sorts of skills and experience,’ he NMC’s Chief Executive and Registrar, Andrea Sutcliffe.
‘Some of our temporary registrants are already looking after people severely ill with coronavirus, others are covering for colleagues in different health or social care settings who are ill themselves, working as midwives in delivery suites, providing telephone advice or supporting older and disabled people in nursing homes and in the community.
‘We know the pressures on the NHS and social care caused by coronavirus are not going away any time soon.
So, the register is still open for temporary registrants via our website. If you think you fit the criteria and haven’t heard from us or want more information, please take a look,’ added Ms Sutcliffe.
‘I know we are asking a lot. These are difficult times but we really need the skill, care and compassion nurses and midwives bring to help keep the nation safe. Thank you so much.’
Claire Roberts is one of the nurses who has joined the NMC’s COVID-19 temporary register and returned to the frontline amid the pandemic.
She said it’s a privilege to be back at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn, where she first started in 1983 as an intensive care nurse and was appointed deputy director of nursing, before retiring in 2018.
‘Staying at home in self-isolation was never really an option for me,’ said Ms Roberts.
‘After a career spanning more than 40 years as a registered nurse in the NHS, the bonds that bind me are tight indeed. The coming weeks in this country are going to test us all in different ways but for those working in the NHS this will be the challenge of a lifetime.’
Photo Credit – DarkoStojanovic (Pixabay)
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