The CEO of  NMBI Dr. Maura Pidgeon addressed the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children on 16 July about the registration of overseas nurses.  She told TDs and Senators that "some 974 applications were received between January and June of this year, which compares to 302 applications received in the same period last year". She added that 70% of the 2,016 applications currently being processed "cannot progress due to incomplete documentation having been received".  Read the CEO’s opening address to the Oireachtas Committee 

NMBI is planning certain interim changes for the accreditation of posts  for Registered Advance Nurse Practitioners (RANP) and Registered Advance Midwife Practitioners (RAMP).  These changes relate to submission of the ‘site preparation document’.  Emphasis will be placed on actual preparation of sites by healthcare providers in terms of local clinical governance rather than submission of a ‘site preparation document’.

Healthcare providers will continue to submit the ‘job description’ to NMBI and the site visit team will continue to monitor site preparation in terms of availability of policies, procedures, guidelines / service level agreements/ memoranda of understanding to support RANP/RAMP clinical practices. More details will be published on the NMBI site in August and will be included in the August edition of the eZine.

A group of midwifery leaders who work in the university sector and in provision of maternity services have teamed up with the Deputy Chief Nursing Officer to launch an initiative to promote midwifery careers. The message is that midwifery is more than a career but makes a real difference to women’s lives.  Learn more 

If you communicate health information to the public you have an opportunity to learn from a panel of international plain English experts at a conference in Dublin in September.   Find out more about this event.