This article was originally published on 6 February 2025. It has been updated with new developments about the proposed bill following discussions in parliament.

The RCN has welcomed news that Dawn Butler MP introduced a Ten Minute Rule Bill in Parliament on Tuesday 11 February that sets out to legally protect the title "nurse".

The proposal states only those registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council as a registered nurse can use the title “nurse” when working in health and social care.

If successful, the bill would bring the UK in line with international best practices and give patients confidence that those providing their care meet professional standards.

In her speech, Ms Butler emphasised that this is important for patient safety, highlighting cases where individuals have falsely portrayed themselves as qualified health care professionals.

The RCN is urging government and parties to get behind this campaign to ensure nursing gets the respect it deserves. The title "registered nurse" is already protected in the UK in law.

RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger, said: "Nursing is a safety-critical profession, and the title ‘nurse’ needs to be protected. Patients deserve to know that when they are being treated by a registered nurse, that they can trust the knowledge, professionalism, and clinical expertise that brings."

"The changes in this bill will provide better legal protections for nursing. This includes preventing those who have lost the right to be called nurses from legally continuing to do so.

"We will continue to urge government and parties across the political spectrum to get behind this campaign, ensuring our highly skilled profession gets the respect it deserves."

The bill has been given a Second Reading date of 28 March 2025, but it's unlikely to be debated and progress to the next stage unless the government allocates parliamentary time. Therefore, we are calling on the government to give the bill time for debate, so it has a chance of progressing further.

A resolution in favour of protecting the title “nurse” was passed at RCN Congress in 2022, and this was one of our General Election 2024 manifesto priorities.