As we publish, more than 59,000 registrants have successfully renewed for 2021 and we thank everyone who has done so.

NMBI has extended its deadline for renewal from 31 January to 28 February this year to allow registrants more time based on the current Covid-19 pressures that the professions are facing. If you have not renewed your registration yet, we would encourage you to do so. You are likely to have been contacted by email to provide you with some additional assistance in undertaking the renewal process.

As this is the first year of the new system, NMBI was aware that registrants’ engagement with the process would be new and we have tried to make the process as user-friendly as possible.

The annual renewal of registration process for 2021 includes, as well as paying the registration renewal fee, the collection of employment-related information. It is the first time that this type of information has been collected by NMBI and it will be used to report on health-care professional resourcing levels.

The information gathered will allow NMBI to quantify the number of practising nurses and midwives for the first time and deliver required statistical data to the European Commission and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Department of Health and other stakeholders.

We regret that some registrants have experienced difficulties when using the new system. We are aware that there have been some difficulties and have provided additional support mechanisms to assist registrants. These include a user guide; a video and the capacity to email NMBI outlining the problem that has been identified.

We acknowledge that our helpline is also extremely busy, and we understand the frustration of registrants who have had to wait to get through. We would advise those experiencing difficulties to email regservices@nmbi.ie with their queries and we will respond to their queries as soon as possible. To help us handle registrants’ emails efficiently, we would appreciate if the following information is included in the email:

• Name
• Personal Identification Number (PIN)
• Detailed description of the query or issues experienced
• Please send the email to regservices@nmbi.ie only (please do not send to multiple inboxes) to allow our staff to answer registrants’ queries in the shortest time-frame possible.

We remain committed to engaging with our registrants and all our stakeholders. There is an ongoing review of the current user experience.