NMC Communication Skills Course: When It Helps After a Complaint

Written and reviewed by Dr Shehzad Iqbal, MBBS, MRCS, MRCGP, Postgraduate Certificate in Healthcare Law and Ethics · Updated 7 November 2026

Where a complaint about communication goes first

The NMC’s page for the public says it is best to start by raising a concern with the nurse’s or midwife’s place of work, because the employer is best placed to resolve issues quickly and fairly, and may refer the matter to the NMC after investigating. The NMC’s referral scenarios for employers include alleged unprofessional behaviour, and verbal abuse of a patient, as concerns an employer can manage locally while it investigates.

So a communication complaint begins, in the NMC’s own description, with your employer. That is the best time to act: a course and a reflection finished during the local process are evidence your manager can see, and they go with you if the matter is referred.

What the NMC Code says about communication and complaints

Section 7, “Communicate clearly”, asks you to:

• “use terms that people in your care, colleagues and the public can understand” (7.1);
• take reasonable steps to meet people’s language and communication needs (7.2);
• use verbal and non-verbal methods, and consider cultural sensitivities (7.3);
• “check people’s understanding from time to time to keep misunderstanding or mistakes to a minimum” (7.4).

Section 2.6 asks you to recognise when people are anxious or in distress and respond “compassionately and politely”, and 8.2 to “maintain effective communication with colleagues”. Section 24 then speaks to the complaint itself: never let it affect the care given to the person who made it (24.1), and “use all complaints as a form of feedback and an opportunity for reflection and learning to improve practice” (24.2).

When a communication course helps, and when it does not

The course fits a complaint about the way care was explained or discussed:

• a patient or relative who felt brushed off, rushed or spoken over;
• a plan or a risk explained in terms the person did not understand;
• a language or hearing need that was not met;
• a handover or a disagreement with a colleague that went wrong.

It is not the answer where the complaint is really about a clinical decision, a record, or shouting at or demeaning someone; that last is a conduct concern, and our professionalism course guide covers it.

If the complaint reaches the NMC

The NMC describes its process in stages: screening, investigation, case examiners, then meetings and hearings. Its guidance on whether conduct is highly unlikely to be repeated (FTP-16c) lists factors that can lower that risk: sufficient insight and appropriate steps, unique circumstances, an otherwise positive record, and engagement with the NMC throughout. If you have gone on working in a similar setting with no repeat, the NMC says the absence of repetition “will be significant”. A communication complaint is the kind of concern where a dated course, a reflection and a manager’s account of your practice since can answer all of these. The first steps are in our guide to a fitness to practise complaint.

What the communication course covers

Eight sections with a post-course assessment: why communication matters for safety; listening, verbal and non-verbal skills, and empathy; clarity, sensitive conversations and shared decisions; communication and conflict within a team; records as communication; what the regulators require; and what follows a communication failure and how to remediate it.

When a different course fits better

• the complaint process itself: How to Deal with a Complaint or Investigation;
• a complaint about attitude or behaviour: Professionalism for Healthcare Professionals.

Counting the course as CPD for revalidation

The 2 hours count towards the 35 hours of CPD revalidation asks for in three years. The NMC says a written reflective account can refer to practice-related feedback you have received, so the complaint and the course together can be one of your five accounts, linked to section 24 of the Code.

Our NMC communication course, after a complaint and for CPD

Courses that sit beside it

Bulk Buy covers the £79 courses: 3 for £200, 5 for £300, 10 for £500. Not sure what to take? Book a free 15-minute call or see which course do I need.

This guide is part of our Professional Misconduct hub, which brings together every Probity & Ethics guide and course on the subject.

The CPD courses linked from this guide, Ensuring Effective Communication as Healthcare Professionals, How to Deal with a Complaint or Investigation, Professionalism for Healthcare Professionals and Module on Reflection, are by Probity & Ethics, written by Dr Shehzad Iqbal, CPD certified and accredited by The CPD Certification Service (provider no. 13197) and offered since 2020.

Questions and answers