It has been a difficult week, it has been a busy week and it has also been a very sad week. I don’t need to talk to you about the numbers, you know more about them than I do. You see the person, the suffering, and the pain when outcomes are not good. From the Board and the team at NMBI, thank you. Thank you to the nurses and midwives who are on our register and working in the health service now, thank you to those who have restored to the register and thank you if you have returned to Ireland from abroad to lend your support.

We have 77,881 nurses and midwives on our register. Between March 19 and 27 we have had 193 first time registrations, mainly UK and Irish nurses, with a small number from overseas. 432 nurses and midwives have also returned to the register over the eight day period (569 restorations since 01 March). We are processing up to 80 restoration applications a day and will make every effort to keep this up. We ask you to bear with us during this emergency period. If some things do not run as smoothly as they should, please be assured that we are committed and at all times working hard to support you and those who want to join you on the front line.

We are currently balancing the urgent requirement for more frontline healthcare workers with the ongoing need to protect the public by upholding the Irish nursing and midwifery standards. We will maintain our standards which are in line with those across Europe. In this context, we continue to work with nurses and midwives who need to complete compensation measures or provide letters of good standing to enable their registration.

In the news pieces that follow we provide information that you may find useful. We also this week launched a new COVID-19 section on our website where we will continue to post relevant information. We have started an FAQ section which we will build out next week to better support queries.

My hope for you during this period is that you can stay safe, hold steady and do what is required. We at NMBI intend to try and mirror this as we support you. Please keep talking to us in the days and weeks to come. Your feedback is enormously helpful.

Stay safe,
Sheila

We launched a new COVID-19 section on the NMBI web site yesterday. It is situated beside ‘latest news.’ We also put a tab on the top blue bar of the web site to help mobile users find the information.

The aim of this section is to pull together in one place all relevant/helpful NMBI information on COVID-19 for nurses and midwives who are on our register or want to join the Nursing and Midwife Register in Ireland. We provide links to the Code and our guidance, along with a section on all the copy we are originating now in response to developing circumstances. At the end of the COVID-19 landing page we also provide links to good official resources.

We will continue to post news updates next week and will also start to build out our Q&A section to better support queries.

For the latest COVID-19 developments visit the NMBI website.

The Minister for Health, Simon Harris announced this week that student nurses and midwives would be paid for the duration of the COVID-19 emergency.

Over the last number of weeks we have worked with the Department of Health, the HSE and the colleges responsible for nursing and midwifery programmes to explore mechanisms that will support students as they complete their study and placements and accept employment. We expect to be in a position to provide more guidance on this shortly.

Fees normally charged to return to the Irish Register of Nurses and Midwives have been waived for the duration of the COVID-19 emergency.

Guidelines for Restoring to the Register of Nurses and Midwives:

• A Restoration Form must be completed if you have: voluntarily removed your name from the register/were removed from the register for non-payment of fees up to and including 2019, and wish to restore to the Register of Nurses and Midwives.
• A registrant who had worked only in Ireland can be restored within days.
• If the applicant has worked as a nurse or midwife while abroad they will need to get official confirmation from the regulatory authority in each of the counties they worked in, confirming that there were no difficulties while they were there. NMBI requests this in the interests of public safety.
• If the nurse or midwife worked in multiple countries this could lengthen the process. NMBI is however working with international regulatory authorities in an effort to expedite the process for those who worked abroad.

Further details can be found on the NMBI website.

The role of NMBI is to protect the public and uphold high standards of professional practice and behaviour amongst nurses and midwives.

• Due to the on-going public health emergency, fitness to practise inquiries and related meetings with witnesses, scheduled for April 2020, have been deferred. These decisions have been taken due to the need to avoid public gatherings. We are also mindful that many of those involved in this process are likely to be involved in the provision of health services and we do not wish to take them away from this role or put additional pressure on them. The situation with regards to inquiries scheduled for May and beyond will be kept under review.
• Board consideration of certain fitness to practise matters has also been deferred. This is based on the need to avoid large gatherings and to ensure that individual nurses and midwives get an opportunity to make submissions to the Board before the Board makes important fitness to practise decisions.

As a fundamental component of our role, we continue to receive and manage complaints in the usual manner; however if nurses and midwives and their representatives need additional time to respond to our correspondence, requests for additional time will be responded to positively.

Risk analysis of all complaints to identify any nurses or midwives who appear to pose an immediate threat to public safety will carry on in the usual manner and appropriate action will be taken.