The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI) has expressed its heartfelt solidarity with nurses and midwives in Ukraine following the illegal military invasion of the country by the Russian President.

NMBI is acutely aware of the immense challenges now faced by Ukrainian nurses and midwives due to the casualties caused by the war, missile strikes on medical facilities and the displacement of millions of people – most of them women and children.

NMBI wishes it to be known that the organisation stands in solidarity with our colleagues in Ukraine who are now faced with tasks beyond the normal call of duty. They remain in our thoughts at this time.

As many Ukrainian refugees arrive in Ireland, NMBI is working with a number of stakeholders to ensure that any Ukrainian nurses and midwives who express a wish to work in Irish healthcare settings in the future will be given the opportunity to do so.

NMBI President Essene Cassidy, Board member Áine Lynch and Director of Registration Ray Healy were among special guests of President Michael D Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin on St Patrick’s Day.

President Higgins took the opportunity at the first reception since the pandemic to pay tribute to nurses and midwives for their work over the past two years.

“This year we are delighted to welcome representatives of a profession whose work and contribution throughout the Coronavirus pandemic has been extraordinary,” President Higgins told the gathering.

“The past two years have highlighted the remarkable and vital impact that nurses, midwives, carers and indeed all those who work in the healthcare sector have on our society.

“In 2020, at the very outset of the pandemic, the first event in Áras an Uachtaráin to be cancelled was our St Patrick’s Day Reception intended to mark the Year of the Nurse and Midwife. It is a great if belated pleasure to now have the opportunity to honour that commitment, and to meet with you all here today.

“I am delighted that representatives from the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland are among those in attendance at this event.”

Commenting after the event, NMBI President Essene Cassidy said: “We were honoured and privileged to be invited to the Áras to represent our registrants and we were delighted that President Higgins took the opportunity to thank all those who worked so hard during the pandemic.”

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has appointed three new members to the Board of NMBI to run until 14 January 2025.

The new Board members are Thomas Glynn, Richard Bruton and Don Faller.

Thomas Glynn

Thomas currently works as Nurse Practice Development Coordinator in the National Forensic Mental Health Service (NFMHS). Thomas has extensive experience in policy development and setting standards in the healthcare service. He has worked in both undergraduate programmes leading to registration and post-registration programmes leading to registration on other divisions of the register. By learning from practice, emphasis is placed on transforming the culture and context of care through systematic approaches, continuous evaluation, development, implementation and monitoring of nursing practice in the delivery of patient care. Thomas previously worked in the Nursing & Midwifery Planning & Development Unit (NMPDU) in Dublin North where he was involved in a number of National and Regional projects including Quality Care Metrics. Thomas has a keen interest in Digital Health Transformation and was a member of the National Nursing and Midwifery COVID-19 Digital Response Group while working in the NMPDU. His other areas of interest include psychosocial interventions and standardised performance indicators that target service outcome data.

Thomas Glynn is co-opted to the Board following a resignation of an elected member.

Mr Richard Bruton

Richard Bruton has more than 20 years senior management experience in the Irish health services. During this time he was a member of the St James’ Hospital management team as General Manager with responsibility for all non-clinical services in the hospital and Head of Procurement in the former North Eastern Health Board. Richard's more recent experience has been in the development of governance frameworks in the area of medical education and training and regulation of consultant posts. He holds a B Comm. from UCD and MSc from DCU and has completed the INSEAD European Health Leadership Programme along with the HSE Leadership Academy Leading Care 1 Programme.

Richard Bruton is appointed to the Board following nomination by the Health Service Executive.

Dr Don Faller

Dr. Don Faller is currently the Dean of the Faculty of Science and Health at Technological University of Shannon (TUS). He commenced his academic career as a lecturer in Pharmacology and Biochemistry in 1993 on completion of a year of post-doctoral research in UCD. His current role as Dean of Faculty includes acting as a leader in the management of quality assurance, programme development and design and assessment of a wide range of academic programmes from NFQ levels 6 to 10, including TUS’s BSc (Hons) in General Nursing and BSc (Hons) in Mental Health Nursing. In addition, he has overall responsibility for the management and quality assurance of TUS’s Department of Nursing and Healthcare’s postgraduate programmes, both taught and research. Dr. Faller has been involved in the development of TUS’s Department of Nursing since the commencement of nursing programmes in 1998. He served as interim Head of Department of Nursing between 1998 and 1999 to put in place the academic processes and structures necessary for the initial intake of undergraduate Nursing students.

He has chaired TUS’s Local Joint Working Group since 2014. This group was established to monitor and manage partnership processes between HSE-approved clinical sites and TUS. He has extensive experience in the design and development of academic programmes from NFQ Level 6 to 10 and has participated in a large number of external validation and revalidation panels for undergraduate and postgraduate academic programmes, both as chair and as a panel member for public and private HEIs. In his role as Dean of Faculty, he has engaged with a range of accreditation bodies including the Veterinary Council of Ireland, the Psychological Society of Ireland, CORU, Athletic and Rehabilitation Therapy Ireland and the Dental Council of Ireland and has overseen the successful accreditation and re-accreditation of TUS’s BSc in Veterinary Nursing, BSc (Hons) in Applied Psychology, BSc (Hons) in Athletic and Rehabilitation Therapy and Higher in Dental Nursing.

Dr Don Faller is appointed to the Board following nomination by the Minister for Education.

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI)’s annual renewal portal for 2022 closed on Monday, 21 March.

Removal notices were issued on Thursday, 24 March 2022 to people who were registered with NMBI in 2021 but who did not renew for 2022 or who did not voluntarily remove from the Register.

The removal process was approved by the Board under Section 77 of the Nurses and Midwives Act 2011 at its meeting on Wednesday, 23 March 2022.
Renewal notices were issued to registrants on 25 October 2021 and a Reminder Notice was issued on 17 January 2022.

As the Regulator, NMBI is also sending notifications of removals to all employers, the Minister for Health and the HSE. It is an offence to practise nursing or midwifery if your name is not on the Register.

Anyone wishing to restore their name to the Register for 2022 must pay a restoration fee of €250 in addition to the €100 Annual Renewal Fee.

NMBI Chief Executive Sheila McClelland and the organisation’s Director of Education, Policy and Standards Carolyn Donohoe have delivered keynote addresses to the All-Ireland Nursing and Midwifery Festivals at The Helix, Dublin City University (DCU).

Ms McClelland spoke at the Midwifery Festival on 29 March with more than 100 delegates in-person at the event and 300 more online.

The CEO used the latest data from the MyNMBI registration system to set out the number of midwives on the register and details of those practising and the need for more midwives in the years ahead.

She also spoke about the effects of Brexit, the National Maternity Strategy 2016-2026, Slaintecare and the impact of Covid-19 on maternity services over the past two years. Ms McClelland also urged student midwives to follow careers in leadership to give voice to the profession in the years ahead.

Ms Donohoe addressed the Nursing Festival at The Helix on future developments on nursing and nursing education in Ireland. She also used latest data from MyNMBI to show that almost 5,000 people joined the NMBI register for the first time in 2021. More than 3,000 of the new registrants came from outside the EU.

The Director, addressing the festival remotely, said NMBI monitors 67 pre-registration courses and 224 post-registration courses.

Ms Donohoe set out the challenges facing nursing in Ireland in the years ahead as the population of the country continues to grow.

NMBI’s Education, Policy, and Standards Department has launched the 5th Edition of Nurse Registration Programmes Standards and Requirements and the Policy for Approval and Monitoring Processes.

The live online event on 24 March, which was attended by more than 100 key stakeholders, was the culmination of a project aimed at streamlining many of the functions of the Education Department and building a culture of transparency and collaboration with department processes.

NMBI CEO, Sheila McClelland launched the updated standards.

Dr Myles Hackett, Head of Department Dundalk IT, spoke about the piloting of the changes and commended the level of engagement of both his colleagues and the NMBI.

NMBI Professional Officer Lorraine Clarke Bishop guided stakeholders through the major changes to the 5th Edition, particularly Section 3 which has seen a complete overhaul of the requirements for education bodies, their associate health care providers and education programmes leading to registration.

The requirements have also been rewritten to incorporate the existing standards and ensure that they are relevant and measurable. Professor Josephine Hegarty, Head of School UCC, stated that it was “great to see the focus on learnings and improvements within the site inspections”.

Department Director, Carolyn Donohoe added “documenting the policy and processes is key to building a culture of transparency and the policy document is a valuable tool for education bodies that provide programmes leading to registration”. Ms Donohoe said: “Feedback from the launch was really positive and paves the way for similar engagement in the future”.

The electronic version of the documents will be available from April on the NMBI website.

NMBI has confirmed it is developing plans for new education programmes for graduate-entry to the General Nursing Division of the Register.

“NMBI is aware of the lack of availability of an education programme in Ireland which would facilitate transitioning from one nursing division to the General Nurse Division,” said Director of Education, Policy and Standards Carolyn Donohoe.

“As a result, NMBI has already approved a project plan to develop the education standards and requirements for a graduate-entry general nursing registration programme, which is due to be submitted to the Board for approval by September 2022.”

The NMBI Education, Policy and Standards Department engaged with a number of key stakeholders who provided feedback on the updated Return to Nursing Practice Programmes Standards and Requirements.

“These are being updated in response to changing priorities for nursing services at a national level, and the high attrition rates reported by education bodies due to the current restrictive processes,” said Claire Nolan from the NMBI Education Department.

“This 2nd Edition aims to reflect current healthcare nursing needs and to widen out the range of opportunities for nurses to update their levels of competence, focusing on practice areas of interest to the nurse.”

Stakeholders were invited to return feedback and the response report was submitted for consideration to the NMBI Education, Training and Standards Committee, which recommended the revised programme standards for approval to the Board.

NMBI is delighted to announce that the 2^nd Edition of the Return to Nursing Practice Programme Standards and Requirements was approved by the Board on 23 March.

The main updates to the Standards and Requirements are as follows:

Section 1

• Legislation update included Nurses Rules (Education and Training) amended 2020

Section 2

• Practice placement sites in acute, community and care of the older person to be considered, to reflect the intended practice area of participants
• Participants undertake a self-assessment to inform their learning needs
• Timeframe for the programme is based on minimum hours not weeks, consistent with EU directives for nursing education programmes
• 45 hours minimum theoretical hours required, with option to provide additional hours depending on the participants needs
• 150 hours minimum practice placement hours required to line up with future proposed Maintenance of Professional Practice annual requirements (can include simulation and clinical practice workshop hours as appropriate)
• Maximum course duration capped at 12 weeks for final competency assessment, with NMBI informed of unsuccessful outcomes

• Learning outcomes and indicative content is streamlined, duplications removed, appropriate skills incorporated within the domains

Section 3

• Competency Assessment Tool incorporates the self-assessment step. Separate printable document available.

Section 4

• Devised new section for ‘Requirements for Education Body Providers’ including submission of NMBI annual report
• Incorporated use of the national Clinical Learning Environment Audit Tool
• Clarified applicable for nursing divisions - general, mental health, intellectual disability, children’s and public health.

Claire Nolan added: “The new version provides a wider range of practice placements which can be targeted to the participants’ area of interest. It is hoped that this may lead to better completion rates with participants ready to take up employment in their chosen area of practice.

“Many respondents gave significant time and attention to provide input on improving the content, quality and usability of the standards and requirements, which was welcomed and strengthened the final version. The electronic version will be available from April on the NMBI website.”

NMBI is continuing its engagement with a range of stakeholders on its registration process, particularly for overseas applications, Director of Registration Ray Healy has said.

The number of Decision Letters issued to overseas applicants in the past two months is double that issued in the same period in 2021. More than 500 were issued in February alone.

The Decision Letter is a key stepping stone for overseas applicants who want to work in the Irish healthcare system. 

“I want to thank all stakeholders who have engaged with NMBI since the beginning of the year,” said Mr Healy.

“I particularly want to thank Migrant Nurses Ireland for their valuable input and their willingness to share our updated guides with potential applicants in countries outside the European Union. As a result the number of applications which were deemed complete when submitted to NMBI has steadily increased.

“This is leading to faster delivery of Decision Letters for more nurses and midwives who want to work here in Ireland.”

Mr Healy added: “We have also recruited more staff to the Registration Department and I want to acknowledge the hard work of all members of my team.”

NMBI CEO Sheila McClelland has sent her congratulations to Letterkenny Institute of Technology (LyIT) as the college celebrates 20 years of nursing education at the County Donegal campus.

The Department of Nursing and Health Care at LyIT began delivering nursing programmes in 2002 following its transition from the School of Nursing, at the St Conal’s Campus in the town.

The celebrations took place on the eve of LyIT becoming a part of the Atlantic Technological University on 1 April. A NMBI inspection team led by our Director of Education, Policy and Standards Carolyn Donohoe also visited Letterkenny at the end of March.

“For the past two decades our Department of Nursing and Health Care has experienced an incredible journey, having expanded from offering nursing programmes only to the inclusion of early education and health and social care programmes in 2009,” said Dr Louise McBride, Head of Department, who is also vice-President of NMBI.

“More than 1,350 nurses have graduated during our time at Letterkenny in three nursing disciplines: General, Mental Health and Intellectual Disability nursing.

“We are celebrating two decades of producing and championing high quality graduates for our Donegal catchment and Northwest region.  Over the past two decades we have worked closely and in direct partnership with the HSE, LUH Saolta group, Donegal and Sligo Leitrim Mental Health Services and Donegal Intellectual Disability Services.

“Our HSE partners have ensured provision of clinical learning placements in accordance with the regulatory professional body, Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI) Standards and Requirements for pre-registration nursing programmes. This partnership is paramount to our nursing programmes. Since 2002, LYIT must be revalidated by the NMBI every five years which essentially rubber stamps our commitment to meeting the standards and requirement for nursing education programmes.

“It’s important to acknowledge and recognise all our nursing staff at LyIT and HSE, through their individual and collective work, both on campus and in the clinical learning setting, that contributes to fulfilment of our nurse education programmes.  I want to congratulate and acknowledge past, present and future staff and students of the Department, our Alumni and HSE partners who contribute to the continued success of the Department of Nursing and Health Care. This really is a joint approach of partnership and collaboration in nurse education.”

NMBI CEO Sheila McClelland said: “I want to congratulate Dr McBride and all her colleagues in Letterkenny for their dedication and commitment to the delivery of outstanding nursing education over the past 20 years. As the campus officially becomes a university in April, I want to wish everyone well as they embark on a new journey with the same outstanding commitment to educating and guiding the next generation of nurses.”

More than 30 additional inspectors have been added to NMBI’s panel following a highly successful recruitment campaign, NMBI’s Director of Education, Policy and Standards Carolyn Donohoe has announced.

NMBI has a statutory responsibility to approve Education Bodies (EBs) and Associated Health Care Providers (AHCPs) in respect of educational programmes leading to registration as a nurse or midwife. Site inspections involve reviews of pre-registration and post-registration specialist programmes.

“Following on from the disruptions of Covid-19 we began a new cycle of recruitment for site inspectors. We invited suitable candidates from the nursing and midwifery register who met certain criteria,” said Ms Donohoe.

“We welcomed applicants from all divisions of the register. Previous experience in audit and inspection was desirable but not essential as training is being provided to successful applicants.

“I am delighted to say we received more than 40 applications and so far 30 of these have been added to the panel. We are continuing to examine the other applicants.

“Of the 30 successful applicants for nursing inspections, 19 are from a clinical background and 11 are from an academic background. There are some candidates that cross over both clinical and academic strands. The extra inspectors take our site inspector panel to 70, with 38 from an academic background and 32 from a clinical background. All divisions of the register are well represented. There will be further additions to the panel in the time ahead. Three midwifery applicants have also been added to the panel.”

It is the Education Department’s aim to ensure that all panelists will have an equal opportunity to be placed on a site inspection team depending on their availability. The Education Department will also endeavor to allow as many panelists as possible experience at least one site inspection for their duration on the panel.

A list of some of the successful applicants so far from the 2022 Site Inspector Panel Campaign is below:

NMBI Chief Executive Sheila McClelland and members of her senior management team have featured in two publications in the past month.

The March edition of the INMO union’s magazine World of Irish Nursing (WIN) carried a question-and-answer feature on NMBI’s vision for 2022.

The article can also be seen in the digital edition of WIN here.

The March/April edition of Nursing In General Practice also carried a feature article on Ms McClelland and the senior management team. You can read that article here.

The Board of NMBI has made decisions as to findings and sanctions arising from complaints received.

The findings are published in full on NMBI's Findings and Decisions page.

Remarkable Irish Nurse Retires from ICU Job At Age of 80

An Irish nurse has been given a warm retirement send-off after working at an intensive care unit at a hospital in England until she turned 80.

Fran Meachin, originally from County Donegal, began her career in Warrington Hospital in the 1960s and after further education and spells in other hospitals, she returned there in 1980 to take up an ICU role which she held for the past 42 years.

Her only break was during the pandemic when she was advised to shield.

You can read about Fran’s remarkable achievement in the area’s local newspaper The Warrington Guardian here.

Midwives Help Sought for Doctoral Research

A trainee clinical psychologist is seeking the help of midwives to explore their experiences of delivering maternity care to women on the autism spectrum.

Laura Moore is undertaking doctoral research at UCC.

This project has received ethical approval from UCC and is being supervised by a senior lecturer (Dr Fionnuala Larkin) at UCC and a senior psychologist in Cork University Maternity Hospital (Dr Freda Wynne). 

Ms Moore is hoping to recruit five maternity care professionals to participate in a one-hour interview which could be conducted online or in person. The interviews would be anonymised and would not focus on details of participants' current workplaces, but rather their overall experiences working in maternity care with women on the autism spectrum. 

As part of this project, she is also recruiting autistic women to explore the experience of receiving maternity care from their perspective. It is hoped that this piece of research can be used to inform guidelines around possible adaptations to maternity care for this group.

If you would like to take part, you can email Ms Moore on laura.moore4@hse.ie

Nurse Margaret Thanks Daffodil Day Donations

An Irish Cancer Society night nurse has spoken of the privilege she feels in her role.

Margaret Kingston says she felt inspired to take up the role after seeing first hand how the charity helped a member of her own family in her final days to stay at home.

The West Cork nurse was speaking to her local newspaper The Southern Star as the charity held its annual Daffodil Day appeal. You can read Margaret’s story here.

Ireland AM Presenter Talks of Incredible Nurses Who Cared for Dying Father

Ireland AM Presenter Muireann O’Connell has paid tribute to the nurses who looked after her father Brendan during the last days of his life.

“They would come into the house, and you know at a time where you’re quite vulnerable and your dad, the person you adore so much is in a very vulnerable position, they give so much dignity,” she said of the nurses from the Milford Care Centre in Limerick.

“They can be the most important person in the room but also feed into the back like you don’t even notice they are there because that is how good they are at their job, I don’t know how these nurses do it.

“You hear about it all the time but seeing it in action I was struck by it because it was truly phenomenal what they can do.”

You can read how the TV presenter is raising funds for the centre here.

Couple Pay Tribute to Ukrainian Nurses Who Cared for Surrogacy Baby

An Irish couple who were united with their baby born through surrogacy in Ukraine have sent their thanks to the nurses who cared for the child.

Gavin and Lesley-Anne Grimes said that their surrogate mother is safe and with her family.

The couple thanked the nurses and medical staff who took care of their daughter and kept her safe in the hospital as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to impact healthcare facilities. You can read more on the RTE news website here.

Clinical Nurse Talks of Her Decade Working with Ireland’s Homeless

A nurse who has worked helping to care for the homeless says she feels privileged.

“Trying to convince someone to go to hospital when you know they are on deaths' door, and they refuse for whatever reason, that can be a difficult situation to be in,” says Sinéad Grogan.

Sinéad works as an outreach clinical nurse manager with Safetynet Primary Care, helping to provide healthcare to rough sleepers or other homeless people without access to services.

You can read more on a day in the life of Sinead here.

As part of our series aimed at helping registrants better understand the work of NMBI, we speak with Board member Catherine Cocoman who also sits on two NMBI Committees.

Could you tell our readers a bit about your background?

I always knew I wanted to be a nurse. My mother worked as a psychiatric nurse, and she spread her passion and love of her profession to me and many others. My desire to interact with people and understand their experiences as well as wanting to care for people brought me to work as a Healthcare Assistant in a nursing home at 16 years old. I loved it.

I have had a varied and interesting nursing career thus far. I studied general nursing at Trinity College Dublin and a couple of years later completed a post-graduate in mental health nursing in DCU. I have worked in an acute hospital as a general nurse and across the acute and community mental health sectors as a psychiatric nurse.

When did you join the Board of NMBI and why did you choose to run for election?

I joined the Board in December 2017 in the registered psychiatric nurses’ position. I was very fortunate to work alongside an inspirational nurse some years ago who sat on the Fitness to Practise Committee of NMBI. She would always speak so highly of its purpose, function and processes. She ensured all the junior nurses like me understood the role of our regulator and the importance of the FTP processes in safeguarding the patients and upholding the integrity of the profession.

I have in the past served as secretary for the local branch of the Psychiatric Nurses Association, lobbying and negotiating for good working conditions and pay for my fellow nursing colleagues and improved services for patients. I also sat on the social and benefit committee of our service and was actively involved with the local Mental Health Association. I was always keen to be involved in anything that served my peers and patients and where I could positively influence or affect change for the good of the nurse or patient.

I was curious to know more about NMBI and its work, so I took a chance on putting myself forward.  My positive attitude and passion for nursing, as well as my passion for improving the experiences of patients drove my interest. I also thought I could adequately represent nurses and in particular the psychiatric nurses’ voice. In reality, why I chose to do it and what I contribute now is probably very different.

As a nursing member of the Board, how important is it to have diversity in representation and what value do non-nurses/midwives add to the decision-making process?

The Board comprises 23 members with a lay majority of 12. Of the remaining 11 members, eight are registered nurses and midwives elected by the professions. The elected members represent the general, children's, psychiatric, intellectual disability, public health and midwifery disciplines.

Diversity on the Board is vital. It adds another dimension to discussions. Everyone has a different perspective on things whether they are a lay or registrant Board member. In the past I would have wondered why non nurses or non-registrants were on the Board at all. Now I can see the value of the skills and experience all people bring to the Board. A lot of a Board’s work is associated with the workings of the organisation and the business and operational side of things not just Fitness to Practise matters. Diversity avoids ‘group think’ and allows for a balance of views and good debate and some challenging comments which makes for better decision making and I have seen this first-hand at work. Good governance standards have also outlined the need for boards such as NMBI to address and ensure diversity. 

What have been your biggest achievements as a Board member?

I get satisfaction and a sense of achievement when I contribute my thoughts on matters that arise whether at committee meetings or Board meetings. I like to pride myself on representing my psychiatric nursing colleagues whilst also being cognisant that my main role as a Board member is to act in the public’s interest and protecting the public whilst upholding the integrity of the professions.

I am currently completing a professional certificate in governance. As part of that I have surveyed my Board member colleagues on their experiences of being involved with strategy development and implementation within NMBI. The results may influence or affect change for Board members and their experience.

What challenges have you faced during your time on the Board?

The first year was a huge learning curve. I was very unprepared for the demands of sitting on a State body. I had very little experience or exposure to board-style meetings and what they would entail. I also had the mix of a maternity leave and job promotion to add to the demands. Then Covid-19 happened. At this stage, coming near the end of my term, I feel that all the challenges have been overcome and that I have gained huge skills and experience. I have fully contributed as a Board member on all aspects of the Board’s work whether it is the decision-making on sanctions following a FTP inquiry or when the NMBI senior management team bring a new project for approval to the Board. NMBI as an organisation has been very supportive of my needs and provided training and answered any of my queries.

You are also part of the Fitness to Practise Committee and the Education, Training and Standards committees. Could you tell our readers what role these Committees play and how it affects them?

NMBI has three statutory committees, in addition to a number of other committees and sub-committees. The statutory committees are: Fitness to Practise Committee (2011), Midwives Committee and Preliminary Proceedings Committee. There are a number of other committees such as the Audit & Risk Committee, the Business, Strategy & Finance Committee and the Registration Committee that assist the Board in the performance of its functions.

I sit on two committees; the Education, Training and Standards Committee and the Fitness to Practise Committee. I put myself forward for both these committees given my skills and knowledge. The role of the Education, Training and Standards Committee is to perform certain aspects of the Board’s delegated functions regarding education, training, standards and ethics. They approve and review all the documents that are developed or updated that guide students, nurses and midwives on their day-to-day practice.  The committee oversees all undergraduate and post graduate courses and we examine site inspections reports from the NMBI. As a nurse in a clinical learning environment myself, I can now see where the work that goes in at the NMBI level cascades out and influences the day-to-day workings of nursing practice.

In previous interviews with Board members, we spoke about how they find a balance between their work on the Board and Committees, their career and their home life? How do you find a balance?

I work full-time in an acute mental health unit, while balancing a family life with two young children, a husband and a big hairy dog, and its demands. I enjoy being busy and the ‘buzz’ I get from being involved on the Board, being a part of a team and part of something that could positively effect and influence the future of nursing.

I am fortunate to have a supportive husband and family. I also have the support of the Kildare/West Wicklow mental health services staff where I work. I believe that keeping a very tight diary is pivotal. This has not always been my forte, to my own detriment. This year I have my annual leave booked in for the year to allow for the many hours of commitment to NMBI per month and to fit in the day job.

Instead of reading fiction or watching Netflix some nights I read the briefs provided in preparation for NMBI meetings. In my view it is not a hassle or problem to spend so much personal time on something that is so important to the lives of nurses/midwives and patients.

Finally, what advice would you give a work colleague who is interested in joining the NMBI Board or one of the NMBI Committees?

Go for it! Honestly, the opportunities are great. It has highs and lows and it is challenging at times but you will be involved in the discussion and decision-making on issues and projects which will positively benefit patients and nurses in the years ahead.