[From Australian College of Midwives Member e-bulletin, January 2009]
There is not a more exciting time to be a Midwife in Australia. On 1st July 2010 National Registration in commencing for all midwives in Australia. This will mean that you will register with the soon to be formed Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia body instead of your local state nursing and midwifery Board. There is going to be a lot of written communication coming your way about the processes involved, so stay tuned.
Details of the new scheme are still being worked out by state and federal government officials. But it seems likely at this stage that there will be some new requirements associated with the national registration scheme for all health professionals. These include:
· Providing evidence of Continuing Professional Development- MidPLUS provides a framework for you to do this.
· Completing a minimum number of hours of Continuing Professional Development - again, MidPLUS helps you to keep track of these hours.
· Participating in an annual professional review of some kind - Midwifery Practice Review can be an option that you choose.
· Signing a Statutory Declaration stating that you are competent to practice
· Completing a minimum number of Practice Hours - exact number to be confirmed.
The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia will be responsible for managing all of this for midwives. It is being created on 1 July this year. The Board will make decisions before the scheme gets underway on 1 July 2010 about all of the above details. It will also have responsibility for managing a separate register or division for midwives. It will become possible for the first time for midwives to register as midwives and not as nurses if they wish to do so. It will also be possible for individuals to maintain registration on both a nursing and a midwifery register, but people who do this will need to meet both sets of competency and other registration requirements (but will probably pay only one fee).
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