Scandal-hit UK nursing regulator chief to step down following The Independent’s exposés

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Louise Thomas

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The chair of the UK’s nursing regulator has announced he will step down, months after a damning review prompted by an expose from The Independent.

Sir David Warren, chair of the Nursing and Midwifery Council, will leave his role after a report warned that the organisation’s “toxic” culture was putting the public and nurses in danger.

The NMC chair faced repeated calls from campaigners to step down following the independent review by KC Nazir Afzal accused the regulator’s leadership of ignoring warnings over its deep-seated problems.

The report found a dysfunctional culture at “every level” and warned the organisation had turned a blind eye to serious sexual, physical and racist abuse.

The Afzal review was commissioned after reports by The Independent revealed a whistleblower’s allegations that the NMC’s “toxic” culture was leading to rogue nurses going free to work and internal racism unchecked.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council regulates more than 800,000 nurses, midwives and nursing associates in the UK and is one of the largest professional regulators in Europe.

The Afzal review, published in July, found six nurses had taken their own lives in a single year while under investigation by the NMC.

It also found failures in how the regulator handled serious allegations, including a case of one nurse who was not struck off for seven years despite being accused of raping a colleague and sexually assaulting a patient.

Some other senior figures have left the NMC in the past few months, including its chief executive Andrea Sutcliffe who said she was stepping down to recover from surgery.

The news comes ahead of a second independent review carried out by another top barrister, Ijeoma Omambala KC, which will look into the NMC’s treatment of the whistleblower and specific regulation cases flagged by them.

This review is due to be published before the end of the year.

In an announcement, the NMC said Sir David will end his term as chair when a successor is appointed.

Sir David said: “It remains a great privilege to lead the council at what is a turning point for the organisation. It will be for the next chair to lead the NMC through the multi-year transformation programme to come, and it is now time to start the search for that person.

“Until they take up post, I’m looking forward to laying the groundwork for positive change at the NMC following the independent culture review.”