What's new
What's new for nurses: November 2026
Position as checked on 12 November 2026.
Key regulatory developments at a glance
NMC Code consultation due late Nov 2026
Expected to add explicit expectations on the safe use of digital technologies and AI. Until a new Code takes effect, the current Code applies in full.
44 National Commission recs accepted
UK government accepted all 44 recommendations on 6 October 2026, including shared regulator principles and AI literacy across healthcare curricula by spring 2027.
Mental health AI scribe guidance
Joint RCPsych and NHS England guidance for mental health, learning disability and neurodivergent settings remains under watch — apply heightened caution.
Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag
Full implementation deadline passed 30 September 2026; ensure any AI-assisted patient materials align with recorded communication flags.
Regulation and professional standards
NMC Code consultation due by the end of November
The NMC says its consultation on a new Code will launch by the end of November 2026. The draft is expected to include expectations on the safe use of digital technologies, including AI. The revalidation consultation has been separated and delayed by at least six months (NMC).
What it means for you: the current Code still applies in full. When the consultation opens, respond, and consider a team or student group response. See The NMC Code review and AI.
Government accepts all 44 National Commission recommendations
On 6 October 2026 the government accepted every recommendation of the National Commission into the Regulation of AI in Healthcare. This includes working with regulators to clarify professionals' responsibilities, and building AI capability into professional education. Further details are due by spring 2027 (GOV.UK).
What it means for you: expect clearer expectations on AI in nursing education and CPD during 2027. Educators can start building AI literacy into programmes now.
Mental health AI scribe guidance still awaited
Joint Royal College of Psychiatrists and NHS England guidance on AI scribes for people with mental health needs, learning disabilities and neurodivergent people was due by September 2026. We could not confirm it had been published (RCPsych).
What it means for you: take particular care with AI scribes in these settings. See Mental health nursing and Learning disability nursing.
Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag deadline has passed
Publicly funded health and care providers were asked to fully implement the Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag by 30 September 2026 (NHS England).
What it means for you: AI-made information, such as easy read, should follow the adjustments recorded in the flag. See Accessible information.
AI models
| Date | Change | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| 28 Sep 2026 | Anthropic released Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Replaces Sonnet 5 as Anthropic's mid-range model. Check your plan's model picker. |
| 7 Oct 2026 | Anthropic released Claude Haiku 5.5 | A faster, cheaper model, mainly relevant to developers |
| 7 Oct 2026 | OpenAI moved ChatGPT, including free plans, to updated GPT-6 models, replacing GPT-5.6 | Students on free ChatGPT are now using a newer model. The rules on personal data don't change. |
| 13 Oct 2026 | Google released Gemini 4 Argon to Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers | Google's first Gemini 4 model; not on free plans at launch |
| 15 Oct 2026 | Meta released Muse Spark Open, an open-weights model | Can be run locally. Check its licence before any institutional use. |
| 29 Sep & 26 Oct 2026 | OpenAI released GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6.1 Terra | Upgraded balanced mid-to-high tiers succeeding GPT-6 Sol for everyday professional workflows. |
| 29 Oct 2026 | Mistral AI released Mistral Large 4 open weights (following 6 Oct preview) | European-trained multimodal flagship (1.05T / 52B active MoE) available for open-weights or European-hosted deployments. |
| 9 Nov 2026 | Anthropic released Claude Fable 5.2 (alongside restricted Claude Mythos 5.2) | General-release frontier tier with 1M context and ~30% faster throughput than 5.1; Mythos 5.2 is restricted to vetted security/life-sciences verification. |
| 10–12 Nov 2026 | Google released Gemini 4 Carbon (10 Nov) and Gemini 4 Hydrogen (12 Nov) | Carbon becomes Google's top reasoning tier; Hydrogen succeeds Gemini 3.8 Flash as the fast everyday workhorse across Gemini and AI Studio. |
| 11 Nov 2026 | Alibaba launched Qwen4-Max Preview | Adds a 1M-context natively multimodal preview tier alongside the Qwen 3.8 series. |
Sources: Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Meta. Current models are always listed on Tool comparison.
Microsoft Copilot
- New models in Copilot. Claude Opus 5.5 and GPT-6 Sol began rolling out in Microsoft 365 Copilot from late September, and Claude Sonnet 5.5 came to PowerPoint in October (Microsoft, More models, one Copilot; Microsoft, October 2026 update).
- Labels to look for. Microsoft now labels Copilot experiences as Copilot Chat (Basic), Microsoft 365 Copilot (Basic) or Microsoft 365 Copilot (Premium) (Microsoft Learn).
What it means for you: which models and features you see depends on your licence and your organisation's settings. See Microsoft Copilot for nurses.
New in this toolkit
Microsoft Copilot Hub
Red lines, Teams meeting governance, agents and 49 searchable nursing prompts.
Beyond Text
Ambient voice scribes, clinical images, video/avatars and Easy Read accessible formats.
All Six Nursing Fields
Tailored risk and opportunity guides for adult, children's, community, learning disability, maternity and mental health.
Governance & EU AI Act
NHS DCB0129/0160, MHRA medical devices, DUAA 2025, and EU AI Act literacy & high-risk obligations.
Ethics & Net Zero
WHO/ICN nursing ethics, moral crumple zones, cognitive offloading and Greener NHS environmental stewardship.
100 Free AI Courses
Vetted free courses across Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, NotebookLM, Perplexity and NHS digital health.
Next update: December 2026.