Should a Nurse Do an NMC Documentation Course After a Records Concern?

Written and reviewed by Dr Shehzad Iqbal, MBBS, MRCS, MRCGP, Postgraduate Certificate in Healthcare Law and Ethics · Updated 8 November 2026

Which records concerns a nurse may face

Records concerns reach the NMC as misconduct or as lack of competence, two of the grounds for an allegation the NMC lists. In practice they look like this:

• notes written long after the event, with no record that they were late;
• a deterioration, a risk or a missed dose not written down, so the next nurse did not know;
• entries not signed, dated or timed, or full of abbreviations;
• a record that says care was given when it was not.

The first three are about how you keep records. The last is about honesty, which the NMC treats very differently. Where poor notes sit inside a wider concern about your clinical practice, see our guide to NMC clinical competence concerns.

What section 10 of the NMC Code asks

Section 10, “Keep clear and accurate records relevant to your practice”, sits under the theme Practise effectively. It asks you to:

• complete records “at the time or as soon as possible after an event”, recording if notes are written later (10.1);
• identify any risks or problems and the steps taken, “so that colleagues who use the records have all the information they need” (10.2);
• complete records “accurately and without any falsification” (10.3);
• attribute entries to yourself, “clearly written, dated and timed”, without unnecessary abbreviations, jargon or speculation (10.4);
• keep records secure (10.5).

Your reflection should name the sub-point your notes fell short of.

A records error or a false record: why the difference matters

The NMC’s guidance on serious concerns that are more difficult to put right (FTP-3a) lists breaching the duty of candour, including falsifying records, among them. Its referral scenarios for employers mark a case of putting patients at risk and falsifying records as one where “immediate referral” is needed.

Its dishonesty guidance also gives a single incident that is unlikely to amount to misconduct on its own: saying a clinical task was done when it was not, then admitting it and completing the task before it affected care. How the NMC decides whether a record was dishonest is in our guide to NMC dishonesty concerns. If that is your concern, a documentation course alone does not answer it.

What the NMC counts as steps to strengthen practice

Case examiners weigh the quality of your reflection and the steps you have taken. The NMC’s guidance on whether a concern has been addressed (FTP-16b) says those steps should be relevant to the concern, measurable and effective. For a records concern, that points to:

• the course, with its certificate; the NMC gives more weight to courses with an assessment;
• an action plan you have developed and completed;
• a reflection with examples of how you have applied what you learned to your own notes;
• a testimonial from a manager or supervisor who knows the allegations and has seen your records since, signed and dated.

What the documentation course covers

Eight sections, ending with a post-course assessment: honesty, objectivity and accountability in what you write; note-keeping, recording patient care, and correcting errors and making late entries properly; non-clinical documents; records as evidence in an investigation; what the regulators require; and what a breach looks like and how to remediate it.

When a different course fits better

• a record that was altered or false: Probity for Healthcare Professionals;
• poor notes inside a wider clinical concern: Ensuring Clinical Competence and Patient Safety.

Counting the documentation course as NMC CPD

The 2 hours count towards the 35 hours of CPD that revalidation asks for in three years. Log section 10 as the part of the Code it relates to, keep the certificate, and you have the subject for one of your five written reflective accounts.

Our NMC documentation course, for a records concern 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, Professionalism in Documentation for Healthcare Professionals, Probity for Healthcare Professionals, Ensuring Clinical Competence and Patient Safety as 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