Media release

06 Sep 2013

Registration standard for scheduled medicine endorsement for public consultation.

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (National Board) is inviting all interested parties to give feedback on the public consultation on a proposed registration standard for scheduled medicine endorsement. This public consultation closes at 4pm on Monday 4 November 2013.

The proposal is to expand the existing Registration standard for endorsement for scheduled medicines registered nurses (rural and isolated practice) to:

• include midwives, and
• apply in areas of practice other than rural and isolated practice.

The proposed registration standard is titled Registration standard for endorsement of registered nurses and/or registered midwives to supply and administer scheduled medicines under protocol. This registration standard aims to:

• enable a registered nurse or midwife with an endorsement for scheduled medicines to obtain, supply and administer scheduled medicines, and
• set out the qualifications and other requirements that must be met in order for the National Board to grant a registered nurse or midwife the endorsement under section 94 of the National Law.

The proposed registration standard seeks to encourage workforce flexibility for registered nurses and registered midwives while balancing public protection. It supports a reliable level of quality emergency and primary health care to members of the community as close as possible to where they live. It brings the potential benefit of increased patient access to safe and timely health care through a registered nurse or midwife with a scheduled medicines endorsement.

The National Board invites submissions to consider, among other things:

• whether the requirements for the proposed registration standard are suitable
• the likely effect of the proposal on individual registrants, and
• jurisdiction-specific considerations for health practitioners, governments or other stakeholders.

To access the consultation documents, please visit Current consultations on the National Board website.

About the proposed registration standard and scheduled medicine endorsement

Under the National Law, an endorsement indicates that a registered health practitioner is qualified to obtain, possess, supply and administer limited schedule 2, 3, 4 & 8 medicines appropriate to their scope of practice in their employment within the meaning of the current poisons standard under the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 (Cwlth), s. 52D.

Under the proposal, a registered nurse or midwife whose registration has been endorsed by the National Board would be authorised to supply and administer schedule 2, 3, 4 or 8 medicines in a particular health service.

However, the endorsed nurse or midwife would still be required to comply with any of the following, as approved or issued under the relevant state or territory legislation:

• drug therapy protocol, or
• Chief Health Officer standing order, or
• Health Services Permit.

The current standard is available under Registration standards on the National Board website.

For more information

• Lodge an online enquiry form
• For registration enquiries: 1300 419 495 (within Australia) +61 3 8708 9001 (overseas callers)
• For media enquiries: (03) 8708 9200

Download a PDF of this Media release - 6 September 2013 (74.8 KB,PDF).