NMBI is putting in place a new Customer Charter. It will outline the nature and quality of service that you as a registered nurse or midwife can expect from your nursing and midwifery regulator.

Protecting the public and the integrity of the professions of nursing and midwifery is NMBI’s core mission. We are looking for ways to improve, and promote the highest standards of education, training, and professional conduct for nurses and midwives.

We would like to invite you to take part in an anonymous survey specifically for registered nurses and midwives. It should take approximately five minutes to complete. Your opinion is important to us and we would greatly appreciate your participation.

Please circulate to your colleagues and networks and encourage them to participate also.

To access the survey, please click here.

NMBI is commemorating 100 years of nursing regulation in Ireland in 2019 by holding a national conference bringing the nursing and regulation community together.

The full programme has just been announced and you can view all the details on the NMBI webpage.

Due to high demand the number of places has been increased. To register please see our Eventbrite page.

The conference will take place on Thursday 24 October 2019 in the Clayton Hotel, Liffey Valley.

ARF notification letters will begin to issue in November 2019. Please note the ARF deadline is 31 December 2019.

Making it easier to pay with ‘My Account’

We strongly encourage all nurses and midwives to set up an online account through My Account.

Most nurses and midwives now use My Account to pay the ARF.

Using My Account will make the transition to a new digital system in 2020 easier for you.

Please ensure you provide the correct postal address for your certificate to be posted to and the correct email address.

For more information about using My Account please see our information page.

The Options for ARF Payment from November onwards are:

Online

If this is your first time setting up an online account with the NMBI please visit our website and click the My Account button at the top right of the screen.  When logging in for the first time, you will need to use your Personal Identification Number and the Personal Security Number previously issued to you by the NMBI. If you have forgotten or lost this number please contact our call centre on 1890 200 116 or 01 6398500 and select Option 1. Alternatively, these will be issued to you by NMBI in your ARF notification letter.

If you have already created an online account with NMBI you are only required to use the email address and the password you already provided when you initially set up your account. There is no requirement for you to use the Personal Security Code as this is only used for first time account set up. If you have forgotten your password, please click on the "Forgotten Password" link on our website.

Phone

You can contact our dedicated payments line on 1890 200 116 or 01 639 8500 and select option 1 to make your payment by debit or credit card.  This 1890 line is open from 9.00am – 5.30pm Monday to Friday.

NMBI is no longer accepting direct debits and partial payments for ARF 2020

In advance of the introduction of a new digital platform next year NMBI has ceased accepting partial payments and direct debits for ARF 2020.

Direct debits

Direct debits are being phased out over the next year in advance of the new digital platform being introduced. This is being done to avoid ambiguity regarding when an ARF is paid, and if a nurse or midwife is registered. The new system will result in a live Register; removing reliance on printed certs and the Register being live and updated immediately.

Letters will issue in the coming weeks to those who previously paid by direct debit.

Partial payments

There was a very low level of uptake of partial payments, and as we are now preparing for a new digital system we are streamlining everything in advance of that to make the transition to the new system easier for registered nurses and midwives next year.

As you may be aware if you tried to pay using the partial payments option this year, the payment system has been closed since 14 March 2019 in line with the new policy, and there has been an accompanying note of explanation.

The My Account payment facility will re-open in November 2019 and you will be able to pay the €100 Annual Retention Fee, or your remaining balance, at that time.

The New Practice Standards and Guidelines for Nurses and Midwives with Prescriptive Authority (4th Edition) incorporating the removal of Collaborative Practice Agreement (CPA) will be published on 7 October 2019.

The Board of the NMBI approved the removal of the Collaborative Practice Agreement (CPA) on 17 April 2018 as a requirement for nurses and midwives registration and authority to prescribe. The clinical governance for the prescribing of medicinal products is now determined by the local health service provider’s medicinal product prescribing policy, procedures, protocols or guidelines (PPPGs).

The registered nurse or midwife prescriber is required to prescribe within their scope of practice and must continue to maintain and demonstrate their competency while fulfilling their role. The registered nurse or midwife prescriber must also undertake audit of their prescribing practices as determined by their local health service provider’s audit process for prescribing and medicines management. The result of the audit of prescribing practice must be documented and reported to the person who has the overall responsibility and authority for the governance of registered nurse or midwife prescribing in their health service provider.

The Director of Nursing/Midwifery/Public Health Nursing/Services or their designated person must have overall responsibility and authority for the governance of registered nurse and midwife prescribing to ensure due diligence in their health service provider (NMBI and ONMSD, HSE 2015).

The National Maternity Experience Survey is a new nationwide survey asking women who have recently given birth about their experiences of Ireland’s maternity services — from antenatal care, through labour and birth, to postnatal care.

Women who give birth in October (and or November in smaller maternity units) will be invited to participate in the survey. All eligible new mothers will be contacted by post in February or March 2020 and will receive a link to the online survey.

The aim of the survey is to learn from the experiences of women to identify where our maternity services are performing well, and where change is needed to improve the quality and safety of care.

The benefits of care experience surveys are significant for all those involved, including the person using the service, the service provider, the regulator and the policy developer. International research has shown that surveys of this kind not only lead to enhanced patient recovery and better patient safety and wellbeing, but also to higher staff satisfaction and lower staff turnover and absenteeism.

The National Maternity Experience Survey is part of the National Care Experience Programme — a partnership between the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Department of Health.

The National Maternity Experience Survey team will be visiting all 19 Irish maternity hospitals and maternity units this October to meet staff and ask for their support in raising awareness of the survey amongst the women in their care.

To find out more about the survey, visit www.yourexperience.ie.

NMBI has approved a revised policy for registration as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP) and Advanced Midwife Practitioner (AMP).

There are now two paths to register as an ANP/AMP, and these have been operational since 1 September 2019.

Please identify the path that applies to you, and apply using the Advanced Practice Registration Form, taking care to ensure all sections are complete.

Path One:

All applicants who successfully complete the NMBI approved Masters of Science in Nursing (Advanced Practice Nursing) programme may apply for registration as an ANP, in the same way as a nurse who has obtained any other registerable post-graduate qualification.

Path Two:

Nurses and midwives who have attained the NMBI competencies and capabilities of advanced practice through a developmental pathway can apply to be recognised as an ANP/AMP. This policy is in line with the principles of the “Policy on the Development of Graduate to Advanced Nursing and Midwifery Practice” (Department of Health, 2019).

Applications will then be reviewed against the criteria and standards of NMBI for advanced practice on a case-by-case basis. Applicants must meet NMBI standards for registration to have their name placed on the Advanced Practice Division of the Register.

For more information please see our dedicated Registering as an ANP/AMP webpage.

The 2020 edition of the NMBI’s careers information booklet ‘Nursing / Midwifery – A career for you’ has just been published.

The booklet includes a comprehensive overview of the entry requirements, the application process, and the theoretical and clinical components of the different types of programmes. There are no changes to the application processes for entry to pre-registration nursing/midwifery degree programmes for standard or mature applicants in 2020.

The careers booklet also includes information on post registration courses leading to additional registration, for those who are already registered nurses or midwives.

Registered nurses or midwives can also find further information on post graduate approved programmes on the NMBI website.

If you have any queries on the above, please contact the NMBI Careers Department at careersinformation@nmbi.ie.