Global Health Workforce Programme: Strengthening Nursing and Midwifery Regulation in Ghana
3 April 2025
GHWP: Spotlighting the Health Partnerships
The Health Partnership between the University of Huddersfield, the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Ghana (N&MC) and the University of Liverpool has supported improved Human Resources for Health (HRH) management through their project to strengthen the ability of the N&MC to oversee and regulate the professional register of nurses and midwives in the country. Improving health workforce management will help to ensure the availability of high quality education providers and to maintain high professional standards in nursing and midwifery care.
To support the N&MC to fulfill this mandate, the Partnership enhanced and updated the Management Information System (MIS) for renewal and revalidation of registered nurses and midwives. improving the efficiency of professional registration and monitoring of nursing and midwifery education providers.
To ensure local ownership and sustainability, IT consultants from the UK collaborated closely with N&MC Ghana’s IT team in the development of the MIS, using an apprenticeship and on-the-job training approach to transfer skills and build local expertise.
The project also focused on revalidation for nurses and midwives, ensuring they maintain professional competency and adhere to regulatory standards. A validation workshop was conducted with 20 key stakeholders to finalise the framework and guidelines for revalidation. This was followed by the piloting and testing of the MIS and the implementation of three zonal Training-of Trainers (ToT) sessions across Ghana.
Through these initiatives, master trainers — selected from N&MC Ghana staff — were trained to lead and facilitate the revalidation process nationwide. These trainers are now equipped to cascade the training to their colleagues, ensuring the sustainability of the project and embedding the revalidation system within Ghana’s nursing and midwifery profession.
Project achievements so far include:
Management Information System (MIS) Implementation:
- Enhanced and updated the Management Information System (MIS) for renewal and revalidation of registered nurses and midwives
- Trained 50 N&MC staff trained on use of the MIS
- 71% of trained staff expressed confidence in adopting and using the new technology, and 100% of N&MC IT team members reported improved knowledge in MIS management
Revalidation Training & Capacity Building:
- Trained 188 nursing and midwifery practitioners and educators trained as trainers on the revalidation process in three regions
- 96% of participants demonstrated retained knowledge of training materials and revalidation content
- 81% reported an increase in confidence to train their colleagues
Stakeholder Engagement & Knowledge
Transfer:
- 20 stakeholders participated in a validation workshop to finalize revalidation guidelines
- Trainers were selected from all 16 regions of Ghana to ensure national coverage
By implementing a sustainable, locally-led approach, this initiative has strengthened Ghana’s nursing and midwifery workforce, ensuring efficient regulation, distribution and availability of the nursing and midwifery health workforce, enhancing professional development and improving healthcare outcomes nationwide.
One stakeholder and trainee involved in the project testified:
“I think it’s also going to reduce some of these medical legal issues that nurses are facing because if I know I’m going to be responsible, I have to attach seriousness and be more of a critical thinker, I’m going to put in a lot of effort and it’s going to reduce errors that we make in rendering service. There’s going to be patient’s satisfaction. I think at the end of the day, the health facility’s goal is going to be achieved because the goal is to be able to satisfy our clients and the public is going to gain more confidence in us as nurses and midwives. And I think even when it comes to the going to negotiate for salary increase and all that. Now we have a better ground to speak because now the public has so much confidence in us”.
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