The Minister for Health, Simon Harris, has appointed Karen Greene to the Board of NMBI. She will represent Directors of Nursing or Directors of Midwifery.

Karen successfully qualified as a General Nurse in 1999 in Beaumont Hospital and currently holds the position of Director of Nursing.

Her career to date has been predominantly spent specialising in the field of Neurosciences holding various nursing management positions.

The Minister for Health, Simon Harris, has appointed John Horan to the Board of the NMBI under section 22(1)(j) of the Nurses and Midwives Act 2011.

John Horan has a wide range of experiences at Senior Management and Board level. He is currently Chairperson of the National Treatment Purchase Fund, having been a Director and Chair of the Finance and Audit Committee.

He served for more than 20 years in a variety of roles in the Aer Lingus Group. He was Chief Executive of the Irish Hotels Federation for seven years and of Veterinary Ireland for ten years. He is now an Honorary Life Member of the national organisation for the Veterinary profession.

NMBI has prepared for the Withdrawal Agreement and has also put contingency plans in place for the possibility of a no-deal Brexit. These policies and procedures will ensure that UK qualified nurses and midwives can continue to register with NMBI with minimum disruption.

NMBI has launched a public consultation regarding Section 40 of the Nurses & Midwives Act, which concerns the Professional Indemnity for Midwives.

A research project being carried out at Trinity College Dublin is examining the experiences of newly qualified nurses and is looking for participants for an online survey.

The research aims to explore newly qualified nurses’ experiences of the internship period.

The HSE has launched a Storytelling Competition to celebrate the forthcoming International Day of the Nurse (12 May 2019) and International Day of the Midwife (5 May 2019).

The submission date deadline for Advanced Practice registration was 8 April 2019. Eligible applicants will be contacted directly and can expect the Review Panel to take place on 7 and 8 May 2019.

The second article of NMBI's Focus on FTP series has been published. The article examines complaints about nurses and midwives relating to a relevant medical disability.

The Focus on FTP series is an 8-part online series of articles from NMBI. These articles will focus on issues in relation to complaints made about registrants.

The primary aim of the series is to inform and guide registrants so that they have increased awareness of fitness to practise issues, and this can inform their practice and behaviour.