Protest at 50% rise in nursing board fee

Three nursing unions are in dispute with the nursing regulator over a 50 per cent increase in professional fees for next year.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, Siptu and the Psychiatric Nurses Association have told members to cancel direct debits for the payment, which has risen 80 per cent in two years.

Members plan to picket the offices of the Nursing and Midwifery Board (NMBI) in Blackrock, Dublin, this month in protest at its decision to impose a retention fee of €150 for next year, up from €100 this year.

The unions say nurses should not have to pay for all the extra costs incurred by the board arising from new legislation governing the profession which was passed in 2011.

The board says the fee increase is to pay for the cost of professional misconduct hearings against nurses, which are being held in public for the first time. It also needs to fund continuing professional development, which is now a requirement for all nurses.

Angry

The unions are also angry at “the complete failure and refusal” of the board to demonstrate support for nurses, they say in a letter to NMBI chief executive

Maura Pidgeon

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“This abdication of your responsibility has left nurses and midwives paying their current retention fee, feeling the board’s only function is to interrogate them, if an incident has occurred, but never support them to prevent the incident occurring.”

The board spent €1 million on fitness-to-practise hearings in 2011, when they were held in private. The estimated cost of hearings next year is €2.68 million. The board claims it has reduced this projected spend by over €400,000 through “prudent financial management”.

Almost 70,000 nurses and midwives are registered to practise in Ireland.