The Nursing Council of Kenya (NCK) is a statutory body established by the Nurses Act Cap 257 of the Laws of Kenya to ensure the delivery of safe and effective nursing and midwifery care, to the public, through quality education and best practices. It is the only professional regulatory body for all cadres of nursing and midwives in Kenya

The NCK is mandated to establish and improve the standards of nursing and midwifery and of health care through regulation of nurses and midwives training syllabi and institutions, conducting of licensing examinations, compilation and maintenance of registers, rolls and records required to be kept under the Nurses Act, Cap 257, having regard to the standards of nursing care, qualified staff, facilities, conditions and environment of health institutions, undertaking disciplinary measures as may be necessary to maintain a proper standard of conduct and nursing care and advising the Cabinet Secretary on matters concerning all aspects of nursing and midwifery.

To ensure quality service provision, NCK has ten departments - Education, Examination & Research; Standards, Ethics and Discipline; Registration and Licensure; Human Resource and Administration; ICT; Finance; Supply Chain Management; Legal; Internal Audit; and Communication..

The core mandate is driven by the first three, while the other departments work with the core departments to ensure smooth facilitation of operations.

The departments work in synergy to achieve the vision, mission and mandate of the NCK, through the four identified Strategic Pillars that are the focus of the 2017 - 2022 Strategic Plan which are:

• Education and Research
• Nursing and Midwifery Practice
• Institutional Capacity Development
• Leadership and Governance

The functions of the Council are:-

• to establish and improve standards of all branches of the nursing profession in all their aspects and to safeguard the interests of all nurses;
• to establish and improve the standards of professional nursing and of health care within the community;
• with the approval of the Minister, to make provision for the training and instruction for persons seeking registration or enrolment under this Act;
• with the approval of the Minister, to prescribe and regulate syllabuses of instruction and courses of training for persons seeking registration or enrolment under this Act;
• to recommend to the Minister institutions to be approved institutions for training of persons seeking registration or enrolment under this Act;
• with the approval of the Minister, to prescribe and conduct examinations for persons seeking registration or enrolment under this Act;
• to prescribe badges, insignia or uniforms to be worn by persons registered, enrolled or licensed under this Act;
• to have regard to the conduct of persons registered, enrolled or licensed under this Act, and to take such disciplinary measures as may be necessary to maintain a proper standard of conduct among such persons;
• to have regard to the standards of nursing care, qualified staff, nursing commodities, facilities, conditions and environment of health institutions, and to take such disciplinary or appropriate measures as may be necessary to maintain a proper standard of nursing care in health institutions;
• to direct and supervise the compilation and maintenance of registers, rolls and records required to be kept under sections 12, 14 and 16;
• to advise the Minister on matters concerning all aspects of nursing.