27 August 2020
The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) is consulting on proposed changes to the existing
Registration Standard: Recency of practice. This Standard outlines the requirements nurses and midwives must meet to remain registered for practice. The current Standard requires nurses and midwives to undertake 450 hours of practice over 5 years. The nurse or midwife determines how these hours are completed over the five-year period. It is proposed that:
To meet the requirements of this registration standard for recency of practice you must be able to demonstrate an adequate connection with the profession and complete a minimum of:
a. 300 hours of practice in the previous two years, or
b. 450 hours of practice in the previous three years, or
c. 750 hours of practice in the previous five years
If you are a recent graduate you must complete a minimum of 300 hours of practice within two years of completing your program of study that lead to registration as a nurse or midwife.
A copy of the consultation paper and proposed revised Standard and guidelines is
attached.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) is
strongly opposed to this proposed change which increases the hours currently required from
450 hours or 3 months in 5 years to
750 hours or 5 months in 5 years.
This is an increase of
300 hours and a
significant reduction in the time available to complete these proposed additional hours.
The ANMF considers the proposed changes are unwarranted and lack any supporting evidence. They will not provide, as the NMBA has purported, more ‘flexibility’. Instead, the proposal would reduce flexibility for nurses and midwives (especially those returning to the workforce after maternity leave), create unnecessary barriers to participation of women in the workforce and therefore work against ensuring a sustainable nursing and midwifery workforce.
Given the difficulty new graduate nurses and midwives face in gaining initial employment the proposed requirement of 300 hours in 2 years is an arbitrary barrier and would place additional pressure and stress on graduates to be employed. Recency of practice requirements for graduates should remain consistent with all other nurses and midwives, that being, 450 hours in 5 years.
Legal advice provided to ANMF indicates that the proposed standard will result in indirect discrimination, in breach of anti-discrimination laws, in so far as it would “impose an unreasonable requirement, condition or practice which disadvantages protected classes of persons on the basis of gender, pregnancy, breastfeeding and family and/or parental/carer responsibilities”.
The ANMF will be making submission to this public consultation through the ANMF Federal Office.
We encourage you to contribute to this NMBA consultation by providing your feedback to the survey
here.
Please let the NMBA know how this will affect you and your nursing and midwifery colleagues, both personally and professionally.