As the year draws to a close, I would like to acknowledge the achievements of our colleagues in all areas of nursing and midwifery.

At Board level, 2023 was a year of change for NMBI. In January, 12 new members joined the Board and one member was reappointed by the Minister for Health. I was privileged to be elected as President and my colleague Áine Lynch was elected as Vice President. Together our Board members bring a diverse range of knowledge and experience to ensure that NMBI is a modern and progressive regulator.

In 2023, we published our new statement of strategy which sets out our key priorities for the next three years. Our overall vision is to enhance public safety, increase awareness of our complaints process, promote high standards of education, training and practice, and ensure that our model of regulation enhances and attracts talent from Ireland and from overseas. I would encourage you to read our strategy which is available on our website.

When I began my tenure as President, I spoke about how I intended to use my knowledge of the Board and my professional, academic experience and practice to further NMBI’s mission to protect the public and uphold the highest standards of nursing and midwifery education and practice.

This year we wanted to ensure that we had open conversations with our registrants and stakeholders, so we went on the road.

Following the success of last year’s NMBI Summer Series, we held four events in 2023 in collaboration with the HSE Centres for Nursing and Midwifery Education (CNMEs) in Waterford, Tralee, Galway and Dundalk. Through these events we have been able to share insights into the matters that are important to our registrants. I would like to thank everyone involved in this year’s NMBI Series, particularly the CNMEs and the Office of the Nursing and Midwifery Services Director (ONMSD).

On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank the Office of the Nursing and Midwifery Services Director and the CNMEs who partnered with us to host the NMBI Series, as well as my NMBI colleagues.

I would also like to thank the Board and NMBI's executive for their hard work and commitment towards the betterment of the nursing and midwifery professions throughout the year. As our Register grows, so too does the work of the NMBI staff members. Their dedication and agility is a credit to the organisation and I would like to acknowledge every member of NMBI for their individual and collective valuable contributions.   

Finally, I would like to thank all our registrants and stakeholders who make such a positive impact to the Irish healthcare system. On behalf of the Board, I would like to wish you a very Happy Christmas and New Year.

2023 has been a busy year for NMBI and the Board.

As a regulator, we remain committed to our work to protect the public and the integrity of the professions by regulating nurses and midwives in Ireland, and we will continue to carry out our key functions to deliver on our statutory remit.

As Louise mentioned in her message, this year we published our new statement of strategy which covers the period 2023 to 2025. Our strategy is ambitious and we remain committed to supporting you, our registrants and collaborating with our key stakeholders. Our strategic priorities over the next three years focus on protecting, promoting and progressing the nursing and midwifery professions. This will be supported through partnership and technology.

Throughout the year we continued to engage with registrants, colleagues and key stakeholders.

In May, we were delighted to hold the 'Conversations on Nursing and Midwifery Regulation' forum in collaboration with the Chief Nursing Officer at the Department of Health. The forum was a great opportunity for us, as an organisation, to discuss the challenges and future of the professions. It was attended by more than 75 of our international regulatory colleagues, as well as the Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), the ONMSD, the INMO and Directors of Nursing and Midwifery, Heads of School in education bodies and representatives from hospital groups across the country. I would like to thank the Chief Nursing Officer at the Department of Health, Rachel Kenna and her office who worked in collaboration with us to host the event.

This year we published our State of the Register report for the second time. I am pleased to say that there are now almost 85,000 nurses and midwives on our Register. The report provides a breakdown of the number of nurses and midwives registered in Ireland and the data aims to inform workforce planning models. The 2023 report has allowed us to provide comparison data to assist in identifying areas of growth and potential gaps to ensure that the Irish healthcare system is equipped to meet current and future needs.

I would like to thank our President, Louise and the Board of NMBI for all their guidance and support throughout the year. Their work enables us to carry out our functions effectively and effectively.

This year we were delighted to earn the Great Place to Work® certification. Our staff members took part in the Great Place to Work Survey® which allowed them to provide their feedback on the working culture in NMBI. Based on their feedback, we received high scores across areas such as management and leadership, communication and involvement, recognition, engagement and culture. This has been a great achievement for the organisation and I would like to take the opportunity to recognise my colleagues on the Senior Management Team and the staff of NMBI for all their work and achievements.

We understand the challenges facing nurses and midwives across the Irish health service and I would like to sincerely thank them for their continued dedication to patient care.

I would like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and every success in the New Year.

We have published our State of the Register 2023 report, revealing that there are a total of 84,948 nurses and midwives currently on our Register, a 4% increase on the previous year and the largest number of registrants held by NMBI.

This year’s report indicates a steady growth in nurses and midwives registered in Ireland, underscoring the resilience of both professions and the sustained interest in critical healthcare roles. The figures showed that there are 79,489 practising in Ireland, a 5% increase in the number of practising, compared to 75,871 last year. There are 70,969 nurses and midwives in patient-facing roles (an increase of 7%). 

The report, which is now published annually, provides a detailed breakdown of the number of nurses and midwives registered in Ireland. All nurses and midwives who wish to practise in Ireland must be registered with NMBI. 

The 2023 figures show a 27% year on year (6,257) increase in new registrants joining the NMBI Register. New registrants include nurses and midwives qualified in Ireland, the EU and non-EU countries. The highest percentage increases in new registrants are in the General Nurses Division and the Midwives Division. 

The majority of new registrants in the past year came from non-EU countries. In the period of this report, 1,584 new registrants qualified in Ireland (up 2%), 4,542 qualified outside the EU (up 50%) and 131 qualified in EU countries (down 64%). Since 2022, UK registrants are no longer included in EU figures. 

Nurses and midwives educated outside of Ireland play an essential role in the Irish health system. In 2023, the top overseas countries from which new registrants came were India (3,272), Philippines (560), United Kingdom (232) and Zimbabwe (169). There were 250 new registrants from the UK in 2022 as opposed to 232 in 2023.

From 1 June 2022 to 31 May 2023, NMBI issued 10,679 Decision Letters, to overseas applicants. Getting a Decision Letter is an essential step in the process of overseas nurses and midwives applying to join the register. For most applicants, it allows them, to fulfil a required compensation measure, before applying to join the Register. 

Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly commented on the report, stating, "This is a very welcome report and of interest to all of those involved in healthcare in Ireland. These figures from the State of the Register 2023 are a testament to the work of NMBI in supporting and enhancing our nursing and midwifery professions. We can see the policy on Advance Practice coming to fruition, as the report shows a 23% increase in Advanced Nurse Practitioners and a 43% increase in Advanced Midwife Practitioners. Having access to these figures enables policymakers to ensure that Ireland's healthcare system is fit for purpose today and into the future". 

Chief Nursing Officer, Rachel Kenna, added, ‘I am particularly pleased to see a 7% increase in the numbers of nurses and midwives working directly with patients. Nurses and midwives play a pivotal role in the provision of coordinated, safe and high quality care, and seeing the increase in numbers at the point of the patient reflects positively that we are planning appropriately and effectively for the future of patient focused care delivery across the health care system." 

NMBI President, Dr Louise McBride, said: "The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland is pleased to publish this year’s State of the Register report. We are delighted to see the nursing and midwifery professions growing. These numbers not only represent statistics but real individuals dedicating their lives to the betterment of healthcare in Ireland. The data in this report is essential for ensuring that we maintain and improve the standards of care and safety that we aspire to as professionals. I commend the NMBI team, and I encourage all nurses and midwives to read this report and reflect on its implications for their practice."

NMBI CEO, Sheila McClelland, remarked, “The State of the Register report provides valuable insights into the profile, trends and challenges of our nursing and midwifery workforce. It is our hope that it will help policy makers and service providers to plan and resource our services in a way that meets the current and future needs of our patients, service users and communities.” 

The full State of the Register 2023 report provides an in-depth look into the registration data for the nursing and midwifery professions in Ireland. 

It is available for download on the State of the Register section of our website.

The 2024 annual registration renewal continues and to date more than 38,000 nurses and midwives have completed the process. We would like to sincerely thank those who have renewed. 

The renewal window will remain open until Wednesday, 31 January 2024 and the process must be completed through our online portal, MyNMBI. Renewing online is easy and takes approximately 10 minutes to complete. 

We would encourage you to login and renew as soon as possible to avoid peak times later this month as processing during this time may take longer. The peak dates for renewals are around the end of year.

Assistance during the Christmas period

For any queries or support, our customer care centre can be contacted at 0818 200 116 (+353 818 200 116 from outside Ireland), Monday to Friday 9am-5:30pm or by email at regservices@nmbi.ie. 

When contacting us, please provide your name, PIN number and your date of birth as this will help us deal with any query more efficiently. Please note that there will be amendments to our opening times if you wish to contact our customer care team during the Christmas and New Year period.

Our opening times over this period can be found below.

Guides

To assist you through the annual renewal process, we have created a number of guides which can be accessed through the links below or on the annual renewal page of our website.

• Annual Renewal video guide  
• Annual Registration Renewal Guide  
• Frequently Asked Questions 

How do you voluntarily remove if you do not want to renew?

You can voluntarily remove your name from the Nurses and Midwives Register on MyNMBI. This service is free of charge and will be available during the renewal period. Registrants can voluntarily remove their names from all divisions if they are taking a career break, retiring or working abroad. Should you choose this option, you can restore your name to the Register at any time by selecting the ’Restoration’ option on the MyNMBI portal for the same fee as the Annual Renewal. 

What happens if you do not renew your registration?

If you do not renew or voluntarily remove your registration, we will be obliged to remove your record from the Register. All nurses and midwives who practise in Ireland are required by law to have their name on the Register of Nurses and Midwives which is maintained by NMBI. Practice includes clinical practice, nursing or midwifery management, education and research. To remain on the Register, each year it is necessary to pay the annual renewal fee.

When completing the process, please ensure that all contact information is up to date, including address, email address and phone number. This is a legal requirement under Section 53 of the Nurses and Midwives Act, as amended.

Please note that student nurses and student midwives are not required to renew. Any nurses or midwives who have registered for the first time on or after 1 September 2023 are not required to renew until the 2025 annual renewal cycle.

What your renewal payment is used for 

Your annual renewal fee goes towards our work to support nurses and midwives to provide care to the highest standards. This work includes: 

• Maintaining the Register of Nurses and Midwives and the Candidate Register for students. 
• Developing standards and guidance for nurses and midwives. 
• Assessing and approving education programmes for the professions. 
• Investigating complaints made against registrants. 

For more information on the work of NMBI see our website. 

NMBI is inviting you and members of the public to participate in a consultation on its Professional Competence Scheme Guideline for Registered Nurses and Registered Midwives.

NMBI recognises that a core principle for practising nurses and midwives is to maintain their competence. NMBI is developing a new draft scheme which will be designed to enhance public safety by providing guidance to nurses and midwives on what is expected of you on an ongoing basis, to maintain your practice and record evidence of your CPD, through continuing professional development (CPD). It will enable you to respond to the changes and advances in nursing and midwifery.

The document has been prepared by NMBI and is based on legislation within the Nurses and Midwives Act 2011, as amended. The aim of the guideline is to:

• detail what registered nurses and registered midwives are expected to do to maintain their professional competence.
• outline the responsibilities of the regulator and registrants in quality assuring the process for maintenance of professional competence.
• enhance public safety by providing guidance to registered nurses and registered midwives on what is expected of them in terms of maintaining their practice through continuing professional development (CPD).

We welcome your feedback. To find out more and complete the public consultation, please visit the Consultations page of our website.

We invite you to read the draft consultation document before submitting your feedback through a short survey.

The consultation closes at 5pm on Friday, 16 February 2024.

Last week, we held a webinar with our colleagues in the Chief Nurse’s Office on the RUN ME Research Report, during which we heard from the Research Team and Principal Investigator Associate Professor, Mary Ryder.

The RUN ME project research evaluated the current undergraduate education programmes in the context of changing population healthcare needs.

The goal of the research project is to provide an evidence base upon which to build future undergraduate nursing and midwifery standards and requirements of programmes that are responsive to the changing needs, developments, priorities and expectations of healthcare in the context of Sláintecare.

The webinar focused on research recently completed by the RUN ME research team which was a collaboration of researchers from University College Dublin (UCD) School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems; Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest (TUS) and Atlantic Technological University: Mayo (ATU); The University of Notre Dame: Australia (UNDA) and St John of God Intellectual Disability Community Services (SJOG).

Attendees heard from Rachel Kenna, Chief Nursing Officer; our CEO, Sheila McClelland; Director of Education, Policy and Standards, Carolyn Donohoe; Principal Investigator, Associate Professor Mary Ryder, UCD; Associate Professor Michael Connolly, UCD and Our Lady's Hospice and Care Services; Professor Maria Brenner, UCD; Assistant Professor Dr Freda Browne, UCD; Assistant Professor Mary Curtin, UCD; Associate Professor Eileen Furlong, UCD; Margaret Prendergast, ATU; John Larkin, TUS and Margaret Meegan, SJOG.

We would like to thank all the speakers and attendees for joining the webinar.

The RUN ME Research Report is available to read on our website.

For those who were unable to attend the webinar, you can watch it back in full on our YouTube channel.

We are also happy to answer any questions you may have. You can contact our Education, Policy and Standards Department at: EducationandGuiance@nmbi.ie.

Our Fitness to Practise Department has been working hard to implement the Compassion Project in 2023 and aims to ensure that the fitness to practise process is a more compassionate one for everyone involved.

We know that being subject to a complaint can be very stressful and traumatic. To reduce the stress that this process brings, we have commissioned an independent service to provide emotional support to all participants involved in the fitness to practice (FTP) process. This includes the registrant subject to the complaint, the complainant, members of the FTP Committee, and any NMBI staff involved in the complaint.

The emotional support line was launched earlier this year. It provides counselling services and signposts callers to other relevant services including to the trade unions. Since its launch, more and more people are becoming aware of the telephone line and are using the services.

We hope that the phone line and the counselling services provided will enable people to have a safe place to share any concerns they have about the process. The service provided by the phone line does not include any advice about the complaint. It is simply there to provide emotional support at a stressful time.

Our Fitness to Practise Department have also been engaging in outreach events to explain the FTP process and provide examples of recent complaints. This includes visits to healthcare settings to remind registrants of the importance of the Code and protecting their PIN. For further information or to book such an information session, contact ftp@nmbi.ie.