They’re Wearing Scrubs. That’s All You Know.
NHS spend on agency staff annually
agency nurses active in the UK
to verify with Certifyd
The reality of agency nurses in the UK.
Identity verification for agency nurses addresses a critical safeguarding gap in healthcare staffing. Certifyd uses bi-directional authentication — both the receiving facility and the agency nurse cryptographically prove their identity to each other in real time. When a nurse arrives for a shift, the system verifies not just who they are, but that they hold an active membership with the nursing agency that dispatched them and are authorised for that assignment. The result is a tamper-proof, auditable record of every shift: who arrived, when, where, and under whose authority.
The NHS spends over £3 billion annually on agency and bank staff. Across the health and social care sector, over 70,000 agency nurses work shifts at facilities where they may never have been before. They arrive in scrubs, present an ID badge, and begin working with vulnerable patients — often without the receiving ward having any independent way to verify their identity.
NMC registration confirms that a person is a qualified nurse. It does not confirm that the person presenting themselves at the ward is actually that registered nurse. PIN numbers can be shared, ID badges can be borrowed, and agency booking confirmations don’t include photographs. The gap between ‘a qualified nurse was dispatched’ and ‘this specific person is that qualified nurse’ is where safeguarding risk lives.
High-profile cases of impersonation in healthcare settings — including individuals posing as nurses to access medication, patients, or restricted areas — demonstrate that institutional trust in uniforms and badges is insufficient. Certifyd replaces assumption with cryptographic proof: device-bound, bi-directional authentication that verifies the nurse’s identity and active agency membership in real time, creating an auditable record for every shift.
This is broken.
Here's why.
Agency nurses arrive at facilities where nobody knows them, wearing generic scrubs and presenting an ID badge.
NMC registration proves qualification, not that the person presenting is actually that registered nurse.
Facilities rely on agency booking confirmations that don’t include photographs or real-time identity proof.
When incidents occur, there’s often no verifiable record linking a specific individual to a specific shift at a specific location.
Simple verification.
Every time.
Agency nurse arrives for shift — both parties open Certifyd and authenticate via their registered device
Each person’s identity is cryptographically verified to the other — bi-directional, not one-way
The system confirms the nurse’s active membership with their nursing agency and their authorisation for that specific shift
A tamper-proof record is created: who, when, where, and under whose organisational authority
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“Rotating agency staff cover nights and weekends. Families ask who’s looking after their parent. Honestly? We can’t always tell them fast enough.”— Manager, residential care home
Common questions.
Most facilities check an ID badge and cross-reference with the agency’s booking confirmation. Some check NMC registration online. But none of these methods verify that the person standing in front of you is the person named on those documents. An NMC PIN can be recited by anyone. An ID badge can be borrowed. Certifyd uses device-bound cryptographic authentication — the nurse proves their identity through their registered device, which cannot be transferred or spoofed.
Certifyd verifies the nurse’s identity and their active membership with their nursing agency — confirming they are who they claim to be and that they are currently authorised by the agency to work. NMC registration status can be incorporated into the agency’s membership records, but the primary value of Certifyd is real-time identity verification at the point of shift start, not replacing the NMC register.
Yes. NHS trusts can register as Organisations on Certifyd and manage their bank staff as members with defined roles. When a bank nurse arrives for a shift at a ward they haven’t worked on before, the system verifies their identity and active bank membership in real time — the same way it works for agency staff. Both agency and bank nurses can hold Certifyd memberships simultaneously.
Certifyd is not limited to nurses. Any healthcare professional working through an agency or bank can be verified the same way: locum doctors, healthcare assistants, allied health professionals, and support workers. Each organisation manages its own members and roles, and verification works identically across all professional groups.
Explore more use cases.
Verify every agency nurse before they start a shift
Book a demo to see how Certifyd works for your team, or tell us about your verification needs and we'll get back to you within 24 hours.
Read: The Safeguarding Gap in Care Homes