Less than 40% of overseas nurse applications registered

A call has been made for an urgent review of the system for nurse registrations after figures showed that less than 40 per cent of overseas applicants since January 2015 have been registered.

The most recent figures from the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI) show that 4,184 applications were received from 2015 to date but only 1,632 have been registered.

A further 1,738 nurses withdrew their applications before they were fully assessed by the board. The figures were released following a parliamentary question to Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty.

Mr Doherty said these “shocking statistics illustrated the needless obstacles currently being placed in the way of qualified nurses”.

He said the process of registration for nurses and midwives “needs to be thoroughly reviewed and changed if necessary if we are ever to . . . once again attract highly skilled and trained nursing professionals”.

A Department of Health spokeswoman said, however, that a number of measures had been taken to improve the registration process.

More staff have been taken on and there were improvements in the website and information process, with applicants being able to check online the status of their application.

Incomplete applications

The spokeswoman acknowledged the delays in processing registrations but pointed out that there had been a significant increase in the number of applicants, and the board did receive “a lot of incomplete applications”, which delayed registration.

A review last November of the registration process was part of the overall review of the NMBI published last Thursday, which sharply criticised the board for “not discharging effectively many aspects of its statutory role”.

The figures in November 2015 showed 1,927 applications outstanding but the report showed that 79 per cent could not be progressed “as a result of outstanding documents not supplied by applicants”.

That review also noted that, in the period from January 1st to November 9th last year, 2,006 overseas applications were received, a 132 per cent increase on the same period in 2014.

The board issued 2,491 registrations in that period last year, compared to 1,783 in 2014, a 40 per cent increase.

Call centre service

The review noted that the board had started a new overseas call centre service to cope with the increase in applicants and reduce the number of incomplete applications.

In the review, the authors acknowledged that the backlog had to be addressed.

This was because it was continuing to have “a significant negative impact on many services employing nurses and midwives across the healthcare sector”.