The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI) is set to co-host five Summer Series events at five different college campuses in June.

As part of its remit NMBI’s Education, Policy and Standards Department oversees undergraduate and postgraduate courses in education bodies across Ireland.

This June NMBI is taking its drive for even better standards on the road outside Dublin and is jointly hosting five different Summer Series conversations at five college campuses. Each event will focus on a division of the NMBI Register, the future for nurses and midwives in those divisions and the educational opportunities for our healthcare professionals. The focus at each event will be on the professions, the challenges ahead and the opportunities to embrace change.

NMBI’s early evening events are being held at:

• University College Cork (UCC) - Tuesday, 7 June - Children’s Nursing
• University College Limerick (UL) - Wednesday, 8 June – Midwifery
• Technological University Shannon, Athlone (TUS Athlone) - Tuesday, 15 June - General Nursing
• St Angela’s College, Sligo - Wednesday, 15 June - Intellectual Disability Nursing
• Atlantic Technological University (ATU) Letterkenny - Thursday, 16 June - Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing

The campus venues and times for the events will be confirmed in the coming weeks and shared on our website for all interested groups.

NMBI Director of Education, Policy and Standards, Carolyn Donohoe, said the Summer Series has been designed to facilitate open conversations with the different divisions of the Register.

“We will have panel discussions, an interview with an inspirational leader in the field and a question-and-answer sessions with the audience at each evening event,” said Ms Donohoe.

“The Summer Series is a wonderful opportunity to take NMBI outside Dublin to regional college campuses; to discuss new innovations in nursing/midwifery and to examine how our professions can adapt and change in the years ahead for the betterment of health service users.

“We are extremely grateful to all five colleges who have embraced the idea and are working with us to deliver these events. Senior NMBI staff members will be in attendance, listening to nursing and midwifery professionals about how they work now in 2022 and how they hope to work into the future.”

A team of inspectors from NMBI visited a number of clinical and academic settings in Donegal and Sligo at the end of last month.

The Letterkenny IT (LyIT) site inspection commenced virtually on Friday, 25 March. The site inspection was the first time that NMBI had aligned our professional review with a college’s academic review.

The clinical site inspections commenced on Monday, 28 March and concluded on campus in LyIT on Thursday, 31 March, which marked the 20th anniversary of the commencement of the nursing undergraduate programme in the department.

This also marked the final day before LyIT became part of the Atlantic Technological University (ATU), representing another milestone in the education of nursing. The NMBI team congratulated students and staff on the achievements.

Pictured (L-R): Representing the nursing division undergraduate programmes on offer in LyIT which included General, Mental Health and Intellectual Disability. Catherine Cunniffe, (Mental Health), Lorraine Clarke Bishop, (General), Paul Horan, (Intellectual Disability advisor),  Sinéad Buckley (Mental Health), Dr Bróna Mooney, (General), Robert Hennessy, (Intellectual Disability), Margaret Meegan, (Intellectual Disability), Dr Carmel Heaney, (General), Carolyn Donohoe (Intellectual Disability) and Agnes Tully, (Mental Health).

NMBI’s Education, Policy and Standards Department has launched the 2nd Edition of Return to Nursing Practice Programmes Standards and Requirements.

The online live launch event on 26 April, which was attended by more than 60 key stakeholders, was the culmination of a project to update the standards and requirements in response to changing priorities for nursing services at a national level.

NMBI Chief Executive, Sheila McClelland greeted stakeholders at the meeting, thanking them for their contributions to the new standards guide.

Director of Education, Policy and Standards, Carolyn Donohoe guided stakeholders through the new edition and the main updates to the sections as well as the Domains of Competency Assessment Tool that now incorporates a self-assessment step. Ms Donohoe was appreciative of the significant input which stakeholders provided at consultation stage.

“The 2nd edition aims to reflect the 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,” said Claire Nolan from the NMBI Education Department.

Both documents are available on the NMBI website.

NMBI will be taking part in events in May to mark the International Day of the Midwife (5 May) and the International Nurse’s Day (12 May).

The National Women and Infants Health Programme (NWIHP), together with the Office of the Nursing and Midwifery Services Director (ONMSD) will jointly host the National Midwifery Conference 2022, in the Gibson Hotel Dublin on 5 May.

This conference is being held on International Day of the Midwife; and the national theme for this event is ‘Coming together to celebrate & showcase’.

NMBI President, Essene Cassidy will launch the 2022 updated Practice Standards for Midwives at the conference.

A week later, on 12 May, International Nurse’s Day will be marked by a special webinar jointly hosted by the Department of Health, the HSE and NMBI.

Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, HSE CEO, Paul Reid, Chief Nursing Officer, Rachel Kenna and Dr Geraldine Shaw, Director of the Office of Nursing and Midwifery Services at the HSE will be among those taking part. NMBI CEO, Sheila McClelland will also address the webinar.

NMBI sets the standards and requirements for registration in any division of the register and specialist nursing and midwifery qualifications. NMBI also sets the criteria for the approval of a body seeking to deliver an education and training programmes and monitors adherence to these criteria to ensure ongoing compliance.

NMBI has published the Policy for Programme Approval and Monitoring Processes. This presents an updated approach to the approval and monitoring of nursing and midwifery education and training programmes. It outlines the role of NMBI, education bodies and their Associated Health Care Providers (AHCPs) in our programme approval and monitoring processes.

“The processes outlined in this document relate to programme approval and monitoring of all pre first time registration programmes, post-registration programmes leading to registration and specialist nursing and midwifery education and training programmes,” said NMBI Director of Education, Policy and Standards, Carolyn Donohoe.

“The processes are informed by our primary legislation, statutory instruments, our statement of strategy and our funding model.”

The document can be accessed and downloaded on the NMBI website.

NMBI’s Education team contributed to an advice column for students in the Irish Times in April.

Brian Mooney’s ‘Ask Brian’ column was in response to a teenager and her mum who wanted information on access to a nursing degree programme outside the CAO process.

NMBI’s Professional Officer, Lorraine Clarke Bishop, who contributed content for the column, said the Education, Policy and Standards Department is keen to help secondary school students who want advice on a career in nursing or midwifery. Anyone seeking advice can email education@nmbi.ie

You can read the Irish Times article here.

NMBI Director of Education, Policy and Standards, Carolyn Donohoe and Professional Officer, Lorraine Clarke Bishop were guests at a one-day event at the Magee Campus of Ulster University in Derry last month.

The ‘Community Resilience Exercise Day’ was organised by Owen Barr, Professor of Nursing and Intellectual Disabilities at the Magee Campus.

The experience was designed to challenge the leadership and management skills of 3rd year student nurses as they were provided with simulated scenarios based on actual or potential experiences. The scenarios were devised by various interdisciplinary groups such as the British Red Cross as well as ambulance, fire, police and rescue services.

Ms Clarke Bishop described the day as “an amazing collaboration” that aims to support the nursing graduates of the future. She added: “We were both delighted to be involved and were welcomed by all staff and students.”

The Magee campus has been running the events since 2010 and adapted the programme in 2018 to include responses to flooding events after widespread floods in the North West in 2017.

NMBI invites all registrants who renewed their registration during the 2022 annual renewal cycle to participate in a survey to help us to further improve MyNMBI.

When the new online system was first introduced in late 2020 for the 2021 renewal there were some challenges faced by registrants when it came to accessing and processing renewals. Following a review work was undertaken to improve the system and as a result the average time taken to renew was seven minutes during the 2022 renewal window, with the majority of registrants completing the annual renewal on their mobile phones.

NMBI values feedback from our registrants and uses that feedback to further improve our processes. We would be grateful if registrants could take part in our short survey. Access to the survey is available here.

NMBI’s Registration Committee has reviewed the circumstances of NMBI accepting OET/IELTS tests taken on a computer in a test centre.

NMBI has previously only accepted tests taken on paper in a test centre.

However following assurances and examination of the process the Registration Committee is now satisfied that we can accept both paper and computer testing methods carried out in a test centre.

For clarity, NMBI does not accept English language tests taken remotely at home or in a workplace. They must be taken in a test centre.

Warm tributes have been paid to NMBI’s Finance Director, Marcus Balfe who has retired.

Members of the Board, colleagues and CEO, Sheila McClelland led tributes at both Board meetings and a special event at NMBI offices to mark the occasion.

Marcus joined NMBI from the Medical Council in 2015, after a career in the private sector working for a number of high value Irish, American and Japanese companies.

Colleagues made a number of presentations at his retirement lunch at NMBI.

Leading the tributes Ms McClelland said: “Everyone at NMBI is extremely grateful to Marcus for his dedication to the organisation, to his colleagues and to the Board. His contribution to NMBI has been immense.

“On behalf of everyone at NMBI I want to wish Marcus a long and happy retirement.”

Marcus says he has been enjoying the past few weeks by spending more time with his three grandchildren, playing a little bit more golf and trying his hand at DIY. He is also continuing his voluntary work on the Board of the charity Penny Dinners.

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.

Minister Donnelly Publishes Report of the Expert Review Body

The Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly has published the Report of the Expert Review Body on Nursing and Midwifery 2022.

Minister Donnelly thanked Dr Moling Ryan and the members of the Expert Review Body and affirmed that the report addresses the outstanding industrial relations issues arising from the nursing and midwifery dispute in 2019.

The report contains 47 recommendations that will support nurses and midwives to continue to learn and develop in professional roles, enabling significant reform and ensuring that critical Sláintecare priorities are realised.

NMBI was one of a range of stakeholders that contributed submissions to the Review Body.

Minister Donnelly said: “The people of Ireland have always known the value of the nursing and midwifery profession to their families and society. That contribution was never underlined more than during the last two years of the pandemic – work which continues across healthcare services today.

“I am very pleased to be launching this report which establishes a mechanism by which nurses and midwives will be supported to enhance their professional contribution to Ireland's health service.

“Through further investment in workforce planning, aligned educational and career pathways as well as a focus on enabling digital health solutions and nursing and midwifery leadership enhancement, we now have a pathway by which we can develop and strengthen the role of the nurse and midwife in the future.”

Minister Donnelly has committed to establishing a process to oversee the implementation of the 47 recommendations in the coming weeks which will be led out by Chief Nursing Officer, Ms Rachel Kenna.

Ms Kenna also welcomed the publication of the report stating that the recommendations offer huge opportunities for nurses and midwives to strengthen their capacity to deliver and co-ordinate excellence in care design, integration and delivery in a modern system, fulfilling their potential as primary care givers to the full extent of their training.

The full report is available here.

Minister Welcomes Roll-out of Pandemic Payments

The Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly has welcomed the roll-out of pandemic payments to eligible nurses, midwives and other healthcare workers.

The Minister said the special recognition payments were a recognition of the efforts of frontline staff.

He said the payments are “a token of the appreciation and gratitude that myself, my colleagues in Government and the Irish people have for the ongoing efforts of our frontline public sector healthcare workers to protect us all from the worst impacts of Covid-19”

You can read more details on the scheme here.

Deadline for Cancer Nurse Training Fund Extended

The deadline for the Irish Cancer Society's Cancer Nurse Training Fund has been extended which will now close 7 June 2022 at 3pm.

The Cancer Nurse Training Award provides funding for nurses to pursue research training opportunities at a pre-doctoral level, for example, a postgraduate diploma or master’s degree.

Awards of up to €15,000 are available for part-time or full-time postgraduate training of between one and three years. Funding will contribute towards university registration fees (EU rates) and a small consumable budget of €1,500 to support the applicant’s research training needs.

Further information can be found here.

Nurses interested in applying for the funding can also contact grants@irishcancer.ie.

Nurse Breaks Marathon World Record in her Scrubs

An American nurse has set a new world record for completing a marathon in scrubs.

Sam Roecker, from Pennsylvania, ran the Boston Marathon in 2 hours, 48 minutes and 2 seconds.

She broke the Guinness World Record for the fastest marathon in a nurse’s uniform (female), knocking more than 20 minutes off the previous record. She also raised $45,000 dollars for charity.

You can read more about Sam and see a video here.

Florence Nightingale Museum to Re-open

A museum which celebrates the life of Florence Nightingale is to re-open for the first time since the pandemic began in 2020.

The London museum celebrating the most famous figure in nursing history will open again on 12 May, which marks the 202nd anniversary of her birth and International Nurses’ Day.

The museum, which opened in 1989 and is in the grounds of St Thomas’ Hospital, will be open five days a week.

You can read more here.

s we continue our series highlighting the work of the NMBI Board, in this issue, we speak with John Horan, Board Member and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee and Member of the Registration Committee and the Education, Training and Standards Committee.

Could you tell our readers a bit about your background?

I worked for more than 20 years with the Aer Lingus Group and then was Chief Executive of the Irish Hotels Federation for seven years and the CEO of Veterinary Ireland for 10 years. I was on the Board of the National Treatment Purchase Fund for 14 years and was the Chairperson for 10 of those years. Other involvements include the Employment Appeals Tribunal, the Legal Services Regulatory Authority and some work with the Public Appointments Service. On the academic front I received a Master of Science Degree in Management Practice from Trinity College Dublin.

When did you join the Board of NMBI?

Following a Public Appointments process I was appointed by the Minister for Health to serve as a Public Interest Director in April 2019.

As a lay 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?

Legislation specifically requires that there be a majority of 'lay members' on the Board. Within that majority it is particularly valuable to have a range of expertise available to the Board. This helps the Board to achieve the overall objectives of protecting the public in its dealings with nurses and midwives and the integrity of the practice of nursing and midwifery through the promotion of high standards of professional education, training and practice and professional conduct among nurses and midwives. This couldn't be achieved of course without the other essential input of the experience and expertise of the nursing and midwifery professionals on the Board.

What have been your biggest achievements as a Board member?

As members we act very much as a 'collective' with shared responsibility for all Board decisions. I should also say straightaway that the foundations for many of the achievements in recent years were laid solidly in the work done before my arrival. Strategies and procedures which had been developed in response to various organisational reviews were the essential building blocks for what is being delivered now. I might mention just two particular aspects which I see as critically important developments in more recent times. The creation of a strong Executive with a new Chief Executive and Senior Management Team in place is very welcome. The implementation of Project Nightingale - the digital transformation and modernisation of NMBI registration and education processes - is a credit to everyone involved and will be hugely beneficial to the professions.

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

Initially there was the not-unexpected steep learning curve in relation to the detail of the work of the organisation. I should acknowledge here the patience particularly of the Executive and my professional colleagues on the Board and their assistance in helping me get 'up to speed'. The next challenge was the disruption to the organisation's work from the Covid pandemic which was a major challenge to all of us but one which we all worked to overcome.

You also sit on Committees. Could you tell our eZine readers what role these Committees play?

I am a member of three Committees. The Registration Committee performs certain functions delegated to it by the Board in relation to the registration of nurses and midwives and assists and makes recommendations to the Board on these matters. The Education, Training and Standards Committee carries out similar functions on these aspects. I have recently been appointed by the Board as Chairperson of the Audit and Risk Committee. This body has a range of functions in relation to Internal and External Audits, Financial Statements, Risk Management and so on.

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?

Many years ago I came across some advice which suggested that as individuals we should pay close attention to four quadrants in our lives: Family, Work, Community and Self. At various stages one or more of these will assume more importance than others but none of them should be neglected. I strive to give some time to each aspect at all times - I don't always succeed but I do try!

Finally, what advice would you give someone who is interested in joining the NMBI Board or one of the committees?

Do it. You will find it rewarding.