The commitment to develop shared principles
On 17 September 2026, the Nursing and Midwifery Council announced that it was joining the Professional Standards Authority and other partners in a commitment to develop shared principles for regulating AI use by health and care professionals. The announcement described collaborative work to be developed, with public protection central to that effort.
It was not an endorsement of a recruitment product, an outsourcing company or every use of AI in healthcare. Our operational interpretation is that businesses needed to distinguish the context of each tool. A system supporting a clinical professional’s work raises different questions from one arranging interview slots or ranking applications.
Professional practice and hiring are different contexts
Technology language can blur those boundaries in a vacancy brief. An employer asking for experience with a clinical system should specify the tasks, supervision and support involved, rather than using “AI-ready” as an unexplained requirement. Recruiters need approved answers about what the role actually entails and which questions should go to the employer’s professional leads.
The recruitment organisation also needs its own inventory of tools used on candidate information. A regulatory discussion about clinical practice does not remove the need to assess recruitment data use or explain an automated hiring step. Each workflow should have a named owner, a defined permitted use and a route for uncertainty or errors to be reviewed.
Map the use and its responsible owner
Key Med can support role research, technology-process documentation and the coordination of candidate questions within an agreed non-clinical scope. We can help distinguish tasks that can follow an approved administrative process from those requiring a specialist decision. Clinical governance, professional standards and product assurance remain with the employer, regulator and appropriate experts.
A practical first step is a two-column inventory: technology used in the job and technology used to recruit for it. For each item, record purpose, information involved and accountable reviewer. We can help maintain that distinction and organise follow-up, without implying that a commitment to develop shared principles constitutes certification of our services or a guarantee about a client’s deployment.
The source material
- NMC commits to develop shared principles on AI with PSA and other partners ↗Nursing and Midwifery Council · 2026-09-17
Retrospective briefing · Published 4 November 2026. Historical figures and measures describe their period; consult current official guidance before acting. This article provides operational context. Legal, immigration, clinical and financial decisions need the responsible organisation’s qualified advisers.
