NMC Welcomes Scottish Nurse To Council

Main Category: Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 07 Jan 2008 - 4:00 PDT

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Paul Wilson has been elected to the Nursing & Midwifery Council's (NMC) governing body as the new alternate council member for nurses in Scotland.

Hailing from West Calder, Paul is currently the Director of Nursing in Lanarkshire - Scotland's fourth largest Health Board. He has had extensive leadership experience within the Scottish Health Service and was also the Director for NHS Trusts in Scotland's civil service.

Bringing both practical and managerial experience to the Council, Paul has achieved improvements in the career pathways of cancer nurses; hospital at night services; the roles of nurses in accidents and emergency and the care of people with long-term condidtions.
"I am committed to the development of nursing through the whole cycle of practice improvement; research, care objectives, training, development and audit," he said.

Paul would like to see Scotland's nurses and universities receive greater recognition as part of the NMC's role of protecting the public. "I would like to ensure that Scotland has effective participation in developing the profession through better regulation," he added.

Commenting on the outcome of the election, NMC President and fellow Scot, Nancy Kirkland said, "I would like to welcome Paul into his new position with the NMC. It was important that the decision was ultimately made by nurses in Scotland, who he will now be representing on the Council. Paul's background and experience will certainly be of benefit to all of us and I look forward to working together when he is appointed to Council in March next year."

The full NMC council meets every three months to set the strategic direction of the organisation and to make key decisions on policies, standards and initiatives. The Council is made up of 35 members, with nursing, midwifery and lay representatives from each of the four UK countries.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is the UK regulator for two professions, nursing and midwifery. The primary purpose of the NMC is protection of the public. It does this through maintaining a register of all nurses, midwives and specialist community public health nurses eligible to practise within the UK and by setting standards for their education, training and conduct. Currently the number of registrants exceeds 682,000. The Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001 (The Order), sets out the NMC's role and responsibilities.

Nursing and Midwifery Council