23 June 2026: The NMC has confirmed it will modernise the Code with a new focus on equality, diversity and inclusion, behaviour outside of professional practice, and social media use. These three areas represent a significant expansion of what the Code covers and how the regulator expects nurses to conduct themselves both inside and outside work.
The changes are part of a wider review of the Code and revalidation that began in 2025. The NMC will present its full proposals to its governing Council on 21 July 2026, with a public consultation expected from September to December 2026. If approved, the new Code and revalidation process will come into effect in October 2027.
Here is what is changing and why it matters for your practice.
The Three New Focus Areas
The current Code was published in 2015 and updated in 2018. Since then, the healthcare landscape has shifted. The pandemic changed working conditions. Social media became central to public discourse. The murder of George Floyd and the subsequent scrutiny of systemic racism in UK institutions, including the NMC itself, forced a reckoning with equality and diversity.
The NMC's own independent review, published in July 2024, found a "dangerously toxic culture" at the regulator with bullying, racism, and burnout putting nurses and the public at risk. That review has directly shaped the direction of this Code modernisation.
The three new areas reflect those lessons.
1. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)
The NMC says the Code needs to set "clearer standards" on anti-discrimination and anti-racism. This is the most substantive change of the three. It means the new Code will likely include explicit expectations around:
- Challenging discrimination in all its forms, whether from colleagues, patients, or systems
- Addressing health inequalities as a professional responsibility
- Culturally competent care as a standard, not an aspiration
- Inclusive leadership expectations for nurses in supervisory roles
This matters because the current Code is largely silent on these issues. Standard 1.1 says you must "treat people with kindness, respect and compassion." But there is no explicit standard that says you must actively challenge racism, address health inequalities, or provide culturally competent care. The new Code will change that.
What this means for your reflections
If EDI becomes a formal part of the Code, your reflective accounts will need to engage with it. A reflection on a difficult interaction with a patient or colleague may need to address whether discrimination played a role. A CPD course on cultural competence could become a natural fit for your reflective account portfolio. Revalidation Copilot already supports reflections mapped to Code themes, so when the new standards arrive, you will be ready.
2. Behaviour Outside of Professional Practice
The NMC has traditionally regulated professional behaviour in clinical settings. The new Code is expected to extend that reach to behaviour outside of work, including in personal life, online conduct, and community activities.
This is a notable expansion. The regulator is responding to several high-profile NMC fitness to practise cases where nurses' conduct outside of work raised questions about their fitness to remain on the register. The new Code would make those expectations explicit rather than leaving them to case-by-case interpretation.
The key areas likely to be covered:
- Conduct outside of work that could undermine public confidence in the profession
- Online behaviour including comments, posts, and interactions on social media
- Community and public roles that intersect with professional standing
- Boundaries between professional and personal life in an era of blurred digital lines
What this means for your practice
The NMC is effectively saying your professional obligations do not switch off when you leave the ward. This does not mean you cannot have a personal life. It means the regulator expects you to consider whether your behaviour outside work, particularly online, could damage public trust in nursing. If you are active on social media, this change directly affects you.
3. Social Media Use
The NMC already has separate social media guidance, but it is not part of the Code itself. The modernisation would bring social media expectations directly into the Code, making them a formal professional standard rather than supporting guidance.
The NMC's existing social media guidance covers responsible use, confidentiality, and maintaining professional boundaries. The new Code is expected to go further, potentially addressing:
- Professional accountability for content you share, like, or comment on
- Confidentiality in digital spaces including private groups and messaging apps
- Social media and employment expectations around employer policies
- AI-generated content and how it intersects with professional standards online
What this means for your social media use
The NMC is clear: anything you post online that could identify you as a nurse or midwife falls under the Code. If you are in a private nursing group on Facebook and share a story about a shift that identifies a patient, that is a breach. If you comment on a public health issue in a way that is inaccurate or unprofessional, that is now more clearly a standards issue. The new Code removes ambiguity.
Why Now?
The NMC has been working on this review since summer 2025. It launched an initial survey that received over 12,500 responses from professionals, students, employers, and the public. It held targeted roundtables with midwives, prescribers, nursing associates, social care nurses, and employer groups.
The themes that kept coming up were clear: the Code needed to reflect the real world nurses operate in today. That world includes widespread use of social media, growing awareness of systemic discrimination, and questions about how far professional standards extend beyond the clinical setting.
Paul Rees, NMC interim chief executive, said the standards "must reflect the major changes which have taken place in the health and care sector in recent years, including in EDI and during the Covid-19 pandemic." The independent review that exposed the NMC's own culture problems added urgency to the EDI focus.
The Timeline
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 21 July 2026 | NMC Council considers proposals for new Code and revalidation |
| September to December 2026 | 12-week public consultation |
| May 2027 | Consultation findings reported to Council |
| October 2027 | New Code approved |
| April 2028 | New Code and standards go live |
Until the new Code takes effect, the current 2018 Code remains your professional standard. But the direction of travel is clear. The question is whether you start aligning your practice and reflections now or scramble when the new standards land.
How This Changes Your Revalidation
The new Code will introduce new expectations for reflective accounts. EDI, behaviour outside practice, and social media use will become legitimate and expected areas for reflection. That means:
- Your CPD choices should include EDI and cultural competence training
- Your reflective accounts can and should engage with real-world experiences of discrimination, inclusive practice, or online professional conduct
- Your portfolio needs to demonstrate understanding of these new standards, even before they officially take effect
Start building a Code-ready portfolio now
Revalidation Copilot helps you track CPD, write reflective accounts linked to Code themes, and organise your portfolio so when the new standards arrive, you are already demonstrating the right behaviours.
Download the AppHow to Prepare for the Changes
1. Review your social media presence
Go through your public profiles and posts. Is anything there that could undermine public confidence if linked to you as a nurse? The new Code will make this a formal requirement. Start auditing now.
2. Add EDI CPD to your plan
If your 35 hours of CPD do not include EDI or cultural competence training, consider adding it. The new Code will likely require evidence of understanding in this area. Courses on anti-racism, inclusive practice, and health inequalities are widely available and often free through NHS trusts.
3. Reflect on behaviour outside practice
Think about how you represent the profession outside of work. A reflective account about managing a difficult interaction in your personal life that connects to Code themes can now be a legitimate part of your portfolio.
4. Use a tool that keeps your reflections Code-linked
Revalidation Copilot links every reflective account to the four Code themes. When the new Code expands to cover EDI, social media, and behaviour outside practice, we will update the framework. Your reflections will stay relevant and compliant.
What This Means for the Nursing Profession
This modernisation is overdue. The 2015 Code was written before the pandemic, before AI, before the public conversation about systemic racism reached mainstream nursing discourse, and before social media became a primary vector for professional misconduct cases.
The changes bring the Code into the real world. EDI is not a side issue. It is a patient safety issue. Behaviour outside practice matters because trust in the profession is built on every interaction, not just the ones that happen in uniform. Social media is where reputations are built and destroyed, and the regulator has been playing catch-up on this for years.
The direction of travel is right. The timeline gives you two years to prepare. The smart move is to start now.
Related Reading
- NMC Takes AI to Council on 21 July: What's at Stake
- NMC Employer Roundtable Proposals Explained
- NMC Code: The 4 Themes Explained
- How to Link Reflective Accounts to the NMC Code
- NMC Revalidation Changes 2026: What We Know So Far
This article was written based on NMC announcements and reporting from Nursing in Practice and Nursing Times. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the NMC. Always refer to official NMC guidance for your full professional standards.
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