FOR NURSES AND MIDWIVES

FOR NURSES
AND MIDWIVES
Issue 12 - June 2015

In this issue
Message from the Chair

Registration

Thank you for renewing your registration

Missed the renewal deadline?

New English language skills registration standard

comes into effect on 1 July 2015

Revised criminal history registration standard will take

effect from 1 July 2015

Five other registration standards ready for ministerial

approval

Changes to what appears on the national register for

some nurses

Re-entry to practice policy revised

Nursing and midwifery codes of ethics, conduct and

professional boundaries to be reviewed

Changes to professional indemnity insurance for

private practice midwives

Consultations update
Public consultation on review of the Registered nurse
standards for practice

3
3

New board member appointments

Other NMBA news

Calling all enrolled nurses!

ANZAC Day wreath-laying ceremonies

Updated section for internationally qualified nurses

and midwives on the NMBA website
National Scheme news

4
5

Improving monitoring of conditions on practitioner

registration

AHPRA actions to improve consumer and practitioner

experience

Health ministers to consider National Scheme review

report in August
Keep in touch with the NMBA

5
5

Message from the Chair

As was last year, 2015 is a very busy year for the Nursing and
Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA). Our work plan stays
tuned with the National Schemes1 objectives and guiding
principles. These are to protect the public, facilitate workforce
flexibility and mobility and provide high quality and innovative
education and training.
The health and safety of the public is at the core of our role.
Our aim is to make sure that the Australian community has
access to competent and qualified nurses and midwives for
safe, high quality care.
In May, we united with the rest of the world in commemorating the
International Day of the Midwife(5 May 2015) andInternational
Nurses Day(12 May 2015). On behalf of the NMBA, I commended
nurses and midwives for their invaluable contribution to the
Australian community.
An important piece of work the NMBA is undertaking this year
is the review of the Registered nurse standards for practice
(previously known as competency standards). This builds on
the work we have done on the nurse practitioner and enrolled
nurse standards for practice. I encourage you to participate
in our public consultation on review of the Registered nurse
standards for practice. See more information further down in
the newsletter.
Im also excited to announce that the NMBA members and
representatives will be attending and participating in two
international conferences this year. This month, the International
Council of Nurses (ICN) international conference being held

in Seoul, South Korea will explore the importance of crosscultural understanding and global cooperation in nursing.
The NMBA will participate in a number of presentations and
also host a small exhibition booth at the ICN conference.
In July, we look forward to attending the International
Confederation of Midwives (ICM) Asia Pacific Regional Conference
2015, in Yokohama, Japan. The theme of the ICM conference is
midwifery care for every mother and their newborn.
Attending these conferences is part of NMBAs commitment
to learning from our international nursing and midwifery
counterparts and strengthening our engagement with nurses
and midwives.
The conferences will also provide opportunities
for nurses and midwives to build relationships
and share nursing and midwifery knowledge,
leadership and experiences across cultures
and countries.
The work of the NMBA is ongoing and I thank
everyone who has contributed to the work and the
achievements to date. On behalf of the NMBA
I am grateful for the commitment shown
and the willingness to protect the public
by ensuring appropriate regulation is in
place.

Dr Lynette Cusack RN
Chair, Nursing and Midwifery Board
of Australia

1 The National Registration and Accreditation Scheme

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FOR NURSES AND MIDWIVES

Registration
Thank you for renewing your registration
Another successful renewal campaign saw 97.5 per cent of nurses
and midwives renew online and on time this year. This is a one per
cent increase on the online renewal numbers for last year.
Renewal of registration is an annual requirement and the
number of nurses and midwives renewing online continues to
grow every year.
Thank you to all registered and enrolled nurses, midwives
and nurse practitioners and non-practising registrants who
renewed on time by 31 May.

Missed the renewal deadline?

Nurses and midwives who did not renew by 31 May and who wish
to keep practising must submit their application by 30 June or
risk their registration lapsing.
Renewal applications received during June will incur a late
payment fee in addition to the annual renewal fee, as outlined
in the National Law2.
Anyone who does not renew their registration by 30 June will
have lapsed registration and their name will be removed from the
national register. Your listing on the national register is evidence
to current and prospective employers that you are registered to
practise as a nurse and/or midwife.
Nurses and midwives yet to renew should read quick tips
for easy online renewal, if experiencing difficulty accessing
online renewal.

Revised criminal history registration standard

will take effect from 1 July 2015
The revised criminal history registration standard, common to
all health professions National Boards and approved by the
Ministerial Council, takes effect from 1 July 2015.
The NMBA published the revised criminal history registration
standard early in May, to allow nurses and midwives to become
familiar with the new requirements.
Whenever possible, the NMBA seeks to work together with 13
other health professions National Boards to develop common
or similar standards across professions.
The revised shared criminal history registration standard makes
very minor amendments to the old standard and is expected to
have minimal impact on nurses and midwives. No changes have
been made to the factors NMBA will take into account when
considering an applicants or registrants criminal history.
When a nurse or midwife first applies for registration, the
NMBA requires the applicant to declare their criminal history
in all countries, including Australia.
All registered nurses and midwives must inform the NMBA
if they are:
charged with an offence punishable by 12 months
imprisonment or more, or
convicted or found guilty of an offence punishable by
imprisonment in Australia and/or overseas.
When nurses and midwives renew their registration they must
disclose any changes to their criminal history.

New English language skills registration standard

comes into effect on 1 July 2015

More information on registration standards including the

ministerial letter of approval is available on the NMBA website.

The NMBA has released a new version of its English language

skills (ELS) registration standard.

Five other registration standards ready for

ministerial approval

Section 38 of the National Law requires the NMBA to develop

and recommend to the Australian Health Workforce Ministerial
Council (the Ministerial Council or health ministers), registration
standards about the English language skills necessary for an
applicant for registration in the nursing and midwifery profession
to be suitable for registration in the profession.
The ELS registration standard states that all applicants, including
internationally qualified applicants, who seek initial registration
in Australia must demonstrate that they have the necessary
English language skills.
The new version has been approved by the Ministerial Council
and will be effective from 1 July 2015.
More information and supporting documents including FAQs
are available on the NMBA website.

As well as the two standards above the NMBA has also

completed its review of five additional standards and presented
them to the Ministerial Council for consideration. These are the:
Registration standard: Recency of practice
Registration standard: Continuing professional development
Registration standard: Professional indemnity insurance
arrangements
Registration standard: Endorsement as a nurse
practitioner, and
Registration standard: Endorsement for scheduled
medicines for eligible midwives.
The final standards will be published on the NMBA website
approximately six weeks before they come in effect, to allow nurses
and midwives to become familiar with the new requirements.
More information on registration standards is available on the
NMBA website.

2 Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (the National Law), as in force in each state
and territory.

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FOR NURSES AND MIDWIVES

Changes to what appears on the national register
for some nurses
The NMBA continues its work in promoting a consistent
approach to the way conditions and notations on registration
are described and shown on the national register.
A recent comprehensive review of the national register has
resulted in changes that will benefit nurses with conditions on
practice relating to sole qualifications in mental health nursing,
paediatric nursing or disability nursing and other general scope
of practice conditions.
For the majority of this group, the conditions on their registration
will be removed or the condition will be changed to a notation on
the register, in line with the NMBA policy position.
More information including the NMBAs policy position is available
on the NMBA website.

Re-entry to practice policy revised

The NMBA has approved a revised version of the policy for reentry to practice. This policy provides information for nurses and
midwives who do not meet the Recency of practice registration
standard and wish to re-enter practice.
Under the National Law, there is a mandatory requirement for
applicants for registration and renewal of registration to meet the
NMBAs requirements in relation to the nature, extent, period and
recency of any previous practice.
The NMBA has also approved provisional registration for nurses
and midwives who are no longer registered and are applying to
re-enter practice as a nurse or midwife. Provisional registration
will be available from 1 September 2015.
More information and the revised policy will be available
available on the NMBA website, earlier than the effective
date to allow nurses and midwives to become familiar with
the new requirements.

Nursing and midwifery codes of

ethics, conduct and professional
boundaries to be reviewed
Starting in July this year, the NMBA will undertake a phased
review of the codes of professional conduct and codes of
ethics for nurses and midwives. The following documents will
be reviewed:
A nurses guide to professional boundaries
A midwifes guide to professional boundaries
Code of professional conduct for nurses in Australia
Code of professional conduct for midwives in Australia
Code of ethics for nurses, and
Code of ethics for midwives.

Changes to professional indemnity

insurance for private practice
midwives
Insurance provider VERO has withdrawn its professional
indemnity insurance (PII) cover for private practice midwives
(PPMs). VERO has stopped insuring new customers immediately
and renewals for current customers will end after 1 July 2015.
Section 129 (1) of the National Law requires midwives to have
appropriate professional indemnity insurance (PII) arrangements
for midwifery practice. This section states:

A registered health practitioner must not practise the health

profession in which the practitioner is registered unless
appropriate professional indemnity insurance arrangements are
in force in relation to the practitioners practice of the profession.
The NMBA advises all PPMs to check with your insurance
provider and make sure you are covered by appropriate PII
arrangements.
The following documents are available on the NMBA website:
PII arrangements registration standard
Guidelines for professional indemnity insurance
arrangements for midwives.

Consultations update
Public consultation on review of the Registered
nurse standards for practice
The NMBA has funded a review of the Registered nurse standards
for practice (formerly called competency standards). As a part
of this review we are releasing consultation papers on the draft
revised standards.
Please complete this structured response consultation* to
provide feedback on the draft revised Registered nurse standards
for practice.
We encourage all our stakeholders nurses, midwives and
any other interested parties to review and respond to this
consultation, which closes on 3 July 2015.
More information including a background paper is available on
ourcurrent consultationspage.
*When you click on this link, you will be taken to the structured response
consultation on a third party website, hosted by Southern Cross University (SCU).
SCU, with a team led by Professor Andrew Cashin, has been commissioned by
the NMBA to review and revise the current National competency standards for
the registered nurse and produce Registered nurse standards for practice. This
work commenced in March 2014 and is on schedule to conclude at the end of
October 2015. The information will be handled in accordance with the privacy
policies of SCU here and Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency
(AHPRA) on behalf of the NMBA here.

The NMBA will keep you up to date about the progress

of this project and invite your feedback during the public
consultation phase.
You can view NMBA codes and guidelines on the NMBA website.
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FOR NURSES AND MIDWIVES

New board member appointments

ANZAC Day wreath-laying ceremonies

ACT wreath-laying ceremony

This ANZAC Day various members of the NMBA took the

opportunity to commemorate those who fought and died for
Australia and the nurses who tended the sick and wounded.

Melodie Heland
The NMBA has recently welcomed a new board member, Melodie
Heland, RN, MN.
Ms Heland began a three-year appointment on 1 June 2015 as
the Victorian practitioner member and comes with extensive
tertiary clinical and management experience. Ms Heland also
has a nursing and midwifery regulatory background, being a
member of the Nurses Board of Victoria from 2000-2010 and
holding the office of President from 2007-2010.
In accepting this role Ms Heland said, I take the role of NMBA
board member seriously. It is a role which can influence the
reputation and professional standards of nursing and midwifery
in Australia. I hope to look nationally and internationally to both
guide and drive the NMBAs vision and direction in the future.

The Darwin ANZAC Day Dawn Service was attended by Northern

Territory Board Chair Angela Bull and Deputy Chair Brian Philips.
A wreath was laid at the cenotaph as part of the service.
In the early afternoon a wreath-laying ceremony was held at
the National Nurses Memorial on ANZAC Parade in Canberra.
This has taken place each year since the inception of the
National Scheme.
An honour guard was formed by service nurses and medics,
including Alison Reardon, member of the ACT Board. Mary Kirk,
ACT National Board Member, paid tribute to past and present
nurses who served.
Wreaths were also laid for the NMBA by Emma Baldock (Chair
ACT NMBA) and for the Australian Nursing and Midwifery
Accreditation Council by Fiona Stoker (CEO).

Ms Heland commended the NMBA for all its work so far in

protecting the public and providing leadership to nurses,
midwives and students.
In the coming months we will be announcing more board
member appointments.
More information on NMBAs current board members and new
announcements is available on the NMBA website.

Other NMBA news

Northern Territory Board wreath

Calling all enrolled nurses!

Updated section for internationally qualified

nurses and midwives on the NMBA website

Do you want to provide leadership, be more engaged with, and

strengthen the nursing profession? The NMBA invites you to
become a board, committee or panel member.

In April this year the NMBA launched new pages with updated
content on the internationally qualified nurses and midwives
sections on its website.

The NMBA is looking for enrolled nurses to sit on boards

and committees. You can influence how the nursing
profession is regulated.

Thenew section for internationally qualified nurses and

midwivesmakes it easier for users to access the commonly
sought after information and services. Information relating
specifically to internationally qualified nurses and midwiveswill
beupdated with the most current and relevant content.

Contact [email protected] to register your interest today!

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FOR NURSES AND MIDWIVES

The NMBA hopes to improve customer experience for all our

users including overseas applicants for registration, current
practitioners, students, employers, government ministers and
health departments, and the general public.

National Scheme news

Keep in touch with the NMBA

Visit the NMBA website* for registration standards, codes,
guidelines and FAQ.
* Please make sure you are using the most up-to-date browser version
when viewing the NMBA website.

Lodge an online enquiry form.

Improving monitoring of conditions on

practitioner registration

For registration enquiries, call 1300 419 495 (from within

Australia) or +61 3 8708 9001 (for overseas callers).

AHPRA has welcomed calls for stringent monitoring and swift

detection of breaches in compliance by registered health
practitioners with restrictions on their registration.

Address mail correspondence to: Dr Lynette Cusack RN,

Chair, Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, GPO Box
9958, Melbourne, VIC 3001.

On 24 March 2015, the Queensland Office of the Health

Ombudsman (OHO) published a report recommending a
range of initiatives to strengthen monitoring and compliance
in Queensland and the National Scheme.
Regulation is all about managing risk to patients and we
welcome all suggestions to help improve our work in public
safety, AHPRA CEO Martin Fletcher said.
For more information, please read the media release on
AHPRAs website.

AHPRA actions to improve consumer and

practitioner experience
Improving the experience of people who have made a
notification has been a focus for AHPRA since early last
year, when the Health Issues Centre of Victoria (HIC)
was commissioned to conduct targeted research into the
consumer experience when making a notification.
Since then a raft of changes have been made to address the
issues this research raised, in particular to make written
communication clearer and easier to understand.
AHPRA will continue working on addressing the HICs
recommendations, and improving the overall experience of both
consumers and practitioners who are the subject of a notification.

Health ministers to consider National Scheme

review report in August
Federal and state and territory health ministers will respond
to the report of the review of the National Scheme in August
this year.
Ministers met in mid-April at the COAG Health Council to discuss
a range of national health issues, including the final report of
the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme Review.
The independent review was conducted by Kim Snowball, the
former Director General of Health in WA. It involved an extensive
consultation process that included more than 230 written
submissions and more than 1,000 individuals participating in
consultation forums in each capital city.
More information including the COAG Health Council
communiqu is available on the COAG Health Council website.

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