I propose to take Questions Nos. 619 to 621, inclusive, and 659 together.
Responsibility for the regulation of nurses and midwives in Ireland rests with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI). The NMBI has a number of statutory obligations to protect the integrity of the practice of the professions of nursing and midwifery, and to protect the public. These obligations include:
- maintaining the Register of Nurses & Midwives,
- setting the standards for the education and training of nurses and midwives,
- approving programmes of education necessary for registration and specialisms and monitoring of these programmes on an ongoing basis,
- supporting registrants by providing appropriate guidance on professional conduct and ethics for both registered nurses and midwives, and
- conducting inquiries into complaints about registrants.
On 1 November 2021, there were 81,331 nurses and midwives on the NMBI Register. This is the highest ever number and is 2,003 or 2.5% above the 01 November 2020 figure of 79,328 registrants.
One of the cohorts of registrants on the NMBI register is nurses and midwives that have trained overseas. Along with the NMBI, I welcome these overseas applicants as they seek to join the health service workforce in the State.
NMBI is currently receiving an increasing number of applications from these nurses and midwives that trained overseas who wish to join the NMBI’s Register. In October 2020, 530 new overseas applications for registration were received. The monthly average number of overseas applications in 2021 is 399. This represents an increase of 55, or 16%, over the 2020 monthly average of 344. The numbers of overseas applications being processed to completion by the NMBI is also increasing. The 2021 monthly average number of registrations of overseas applicants is 292. This is 105, or 56%, above the 2020 monthly average of 187.
I am aware that the NMBI currently has a backlog of overseas applications to process. These delays are due to an increase in overseas applications and also an earlier business need which arose where the NMBI needed to divert registration staff to work on the change to the new digital annual renewal system MyNMBI, for it's introduction in September 2020 for the annual renewal process for 2021.
My Department is actively working with the NMBI to ensure all possible steps are being taken to minimise delays in the processing of overseas applications. The NMBI have advised that 95% of overseas applications received are found to be incomplete on first examination and therefore require extra processing. There are currently 3,815 open, incomplete applications with NMBI at various stages of the recognition process. These comprise 715 submitted but not yet progressed by NMBI, 1,065 where NMBI has contacted the applicant for more information and 2,035 where NMBI is progressing and in reviewing these, additional information/documents will be required in many cases. Since 01 October 2020, there have been 4,101 new overseas (non-EU) applications. Since that date there have been 3,073 overseas nurses and midwives registered for the first time in Ireland.
The NMBI recognises the urgency in processing and progressing all applications for registration, particularly in the current climate where additional staffing is required around the country. Intensive efforts are continuing to expedite these overseas applications and several new measures are now planned by NMBI including:
- additional resources,
- process improvements,
- applicant input and collaboration,
- updated NMBI guidance, and
- stakeholder communication and collaboration.
These measures will reduce the backlog and NMBI has informed my Department that it expects to see evidence of this before the end of Q1, 2022.
It is important to note that applications to join the Register are made by individual nurses and midwives. NMBI will continue to work with stakeholders across the health service to ensure they are doing all they can to facilitate recruitment, while continuing rigorous evaluating of information and thorough regulatory checks to ensure patient safety and the protection of the integrity of the professions.
In regard to the number of ICU nurses on the NMBI Register, that level of detail is not available on the MyNMBI system. The reason for this is that an ICU Nurse is not a HSE staffing category. Currently, an ICU nurse is categorised as a general nurse. There are currently 68,191 general nurses on the Register.
NMBI is an independent regulatory body established under the Nurses and Midwives Act 2011. While my Department is responsible for the oversight and governance of the NMBI, I have no role in setting or approving fees. Under the Nurses and Midwives Act 2011, the NMBI is required to be self-financing, and the income from the Annual Retention Fee, which is paid directly to the NMBI, is required to carry out the statutory obligations that I have outlined above. The current annual retention fee is €100 and is unchanged since 2014. This fee is NMBI’s main source of income.
The income from the annual registration fee, for the past 10 years, is set out in the table below:
Year
|
ARF total
|
2011
|
€5.425m
|
2012
|
€5.835m
|
2013
|
€5.366m
|
2014
|
€6.263m
|
2015
|
€6.225m
|
2016
|
€6.183m
|
2017
|
€6.365m
|
2018
|
€6.753m
|
2019
|
€7.163m
|
2020
|
€7.454m
|