Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors Act 1979

Registration

10 The professional register

(1) The Central Council shall prepare and maintain a register of qualified nurses, midwives and health visitors.

(2) The register shall be divided into such parts as the Secretary of State may by order determine, the parts being indicative of different qualifications and different kinds and standards of training ; and in this Act references to parts of the register are to the parts so determined.

(3) The Council may by rules make provision—

(a) as to the documentary and other evidence to be produced, and the fees to be paid, by those applying for registration or for additional qualifications to be recorded, or for any entry in the register to be altered or restored;

(b) as to the keeping of the register and the means of obtaining access to, and copies of extracts from it;

(c) for a person's registration to remain effective without limitation of time (subject to removal from the register for misconduct or otherwise) or to lapse after a specified period or in specified cases, or to be subject to renewal as and when provided by the rules.

(4) The Secretary of State may by order provide—

(a) for persons to be registered in one or more parts of the register by virtue of having been included in one or more of the registers, rolls or lists maintained under enactments repealed by this Act, or having been certified under any of those enactments ;

(b) for a specified part of the register to be closed, as from a date specified by the order, so that on or after that date no further persons can become registered in that part;

(c) for a specified part of the register to be sub-divided into two or more parts, or for two or more parts to be combined into one.

(5) The Secretary of State shall consult the Central Council before making, varying or revoking any order under this section.

(6) A certificate issued and duly authenticated by the Council stating that a person is, or was at any date, or is not, or was not at any date, registered shall be evidence in all courts of law of the fact stated in the certificate.

(7) In any enactment or instrument (past or future, and including this Act) " registered", in relation to nurses, mid-wives and health visitors, means registered in the register maintained under this section by virtue of qualifications in nursing, midwifery or health visiting, as the case may be.

(8) Orders under subsection (2) may, by reference to the part or parts in which a person is registered, prescribe the more advanced qualifications which he must have in order to be treated as a qualified nurse for the purposes of any particular enactment or instrument.

11 Admission to register

(1) A person seeking admission to a part of the register must make application to the Central Council in accordance with the Council's rules.

(2) Subject to subsection (4) below, the applicant shall be registered in that part (on payment of such fee as may be required by the rules) if he satisfies the Council that he is of good character and has the appropriate professional qualifications.

(3) He is to be regarded as having those qualifications if—

(a) he has in the United Kingdom undergone the training, and passed the examinations, required by the Council's rules for admission to that part of the register ; or

(b) being a national of any member State of the European Communities, he has professional qualifications, obtained in a member State other than the United Kingdom, which the Secretary of State has by order designated as having Community equivalence for purposes of registration in that part; or

(c) he has, elsewhere than in the United Kingdom, under gone training in nursing, midwifery or health visiting (as the case may be) and either—

(i) that training is recognised by the Central Council as being to a standard sufficient for registration in that part; or

(ii) it is not so recognised, but the applicant has undergone in the United Kingdom or elsewhere such additional training as the Council may require.

(4) In the case of an applicant within subsection (3)(b) or (c), the rules may either—

(a) make it an additional condition of his being registered that he has the necessary knowledge of English; or

(b) require him to have that knowledge within a period specified by the rules (failing which his registration will lapse at the end of the period).

(5) " National" in relation to a member State of the European Communities, means the same as it does for the purposes of the Community Treaties.

12 Removal from, and restoration to, register

(1) The Central Council shall by rules determine circumstances in which, and the means by which—

(a) a person may, for misconduct or otherwise, be removed from the register or a part of it, whether or not for a specified period ;

(b) a person who has been removed from the register or a part of it may be restored to it; and

(c) an entry in the register may be removed, altered or restored.

(2) Committees of the Council shall be constituted by the rules to hear and determine proceedings for a person's removal from, or restoration to, the register or for the removal, alteration or restoration of any entry.

(3) The committees shall be constituted from members of the Council; and the rules shall so provide that the members of a committee constituted to adjudicate upon the conduct of any person are selected with due regard to the professional field in which that person works.

(4) The rules shall make provision as to the procedure to be followed, and the rules of evidence to be observed, in such proceedings, whether before the Council itself or before any committee so constituted, and for the proceedings to be in public except in such cases (if any) as the rules may specify.

(5) Schedule 3 to this Act has effect with respect to the conduct of proceedings to which this section applies.

13 Appeals

(1) A person aggrieved by a decision to remove him from the register, or to remove or alter any entry in respect of him, may, within 3 months after the date on which notice of the decision is given to him by the Council, appeal to the appropriate court; and on the appeal—

(a) the court may give such directions in the matter as it thinks proper, including directions as to the costs of the appeal; and

(b) the order of the court shall be final.

(2) The appropriate court for the purposes of this section is the High Court, the Court of Session or the High Court in Northern Ireland, according as the appellant's ordinary place of residence is in England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland at the time when notice of the decision is given.

14 False claim of professional qualification

(1) A person commits an offence if, with intent to deceive (whether by words or in writing or by the assumption of any name or description, or by the wearing of any uniform or badge or by any other kind of conduct)—

(a) he falsely represents himself to possess qualifications in nursing, midwifery or health visiting; or

(b) he falsely represents himself to be registered in the register, or in a particular part of it.

(2) A person commits an offence if—

(a) with intent that any person shall be deceived, he causes or permits another person to make any representation about himself which, if made by himself with intent to deceive would be an offence in him under subsection (1); or

(b) with intent to deceive, makes with regard to another person any representation which—

(i) is false to his own knowledge, and

(ii) if made by the other with that intent would be an offence in the other under that subsection.

(3) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than £500.