Most Health and Social care professionals are regulated. The regulators are there to ensure that the professionals registered with them meet the required standards of care and professionalism for their profession. This is called being fit to practice.

They can investigate your concerns and determine whether someone’s skills, knowledge, education or behaviour fall below the standards needed to deliver safe, effective and kind care. If necessary, they can take steps to keep the public safe and prevent something from going wrong again.

If you have a concern about the care you or someone you know has received or is receiving at the moment, you can ask to speak to a doctor, nurse or manager at the service.

If your concern is about a service provided by an NHS Trust, e.g. hospitals, mental health services, community health services and ambulance services, you can contact their Patient Advice & Liaison Service (PALS). PALS, which may also be known as Patient Experience or Service Experience services can help you resolve your concerns quickly and without having to make a formal complaint. If you are still unhappy after that, you may want to make an NHS complaint and/or raise your concerns with the relevant regulating body.

If you wish, there is the option to take your complaint to the regulator at the same time as the NHS complaint or you can wait until you have received a response from the local NHS trust or service manager. POhWER can support you with the regulator process and in some areas of the country, with your NHS complaint. Please see our NHS Complaints pages for more information.

POhWER provides a lay advocacy service for the following health and social care regulators:

• The Nursing and Midwifery Council
• The General Medical Council
• Health Care Professionals Council

‘Lay’ means that the advocate is not a member of the professional body or legally trained.

What do I do if I want to raise a concern with a health or social care regulator?

If you want to raise a concern, you must contact the relevant regulator directly. The contact details can be found at the bottom of this page.

Do let them know if you need help to communicate your concern, need information in another format or need them to make an adjustment because of disability or injury.

How do I get support from an advocate?

If you would like to be supported by an advocate, you will need to tell the regulator this. They will decide if you meet the eligibility criteria for an advocate and make a referral to us.

What can and can’t an advocate do?

A lay advocate can:

• Support people with communication during regulator processes
• Listen and try to understand your point of view and situation
• Provide support to fill in forms when necessary
• Support you to tell other people what you want
• Introduce you to others who may be able to help in relation to the regulator process
• Help you to understand what choices you have and what the consequences of these choices might be in relation to the regulator process.

A lay advocate cannot:

• Provide advice, including legal advice
• Speak on behalf of people who are able to do so for themselves
• Make decisions on behalf of people
• Solve all of someone’s problems for them
• Mediate, counsel or befriend
• Carry out care and support work
• Tell or advise someone what they should do

The Nursing and Midwifery Council

[email protected] 
020 7637 7181
(also have an online form)

The General Medical Council

[email protected] 
0161 923 6602

The Health Care Professionals Council

[email protected] 
020 7840 9814