Professional Standards Committees

Professional Standards Committees are established under the Nurses and Midwives Act 1991. Section 3 of the Act defines that, for the purposes of the Act, the word "Committee" spelled with a capital "C" means a Professional Standards Committee. The word "committee" spelled with a small "c" is used to describe other committees.

Professional Standards Committees are established to hold an inquiry into one or more complaints concerning a nurse or midwife. The Nurses and Midwives Board, in consultation with the Health Care Complaints Commission, decides if a complaint is to be referred to a Professional Standards Committee and also chooses the persons who will make up the Committee for each particular case. However, having decided that a matter warrants an inquiry by a Professional Standards Committee and appointed the members of the Committee, the Board has no further power.  Committees, once appointed, are independent of the Nurses and Midwives Board.

Section 51 of the Nurses and Midwives Act 1991 requires that each Professional Standards Committee consists of 2 nurses or midwives "having such qualifications as may be prescribed", and 1 lay person (that is, a person who is not a nurse or midwife) appointed from among a panel of lay persons nominated by the Minister. However members of the Nurses and Midwives Board are not permitted to sit on Professional Standards Committees. The Board appoints one of the members as chairperson of the Committee.

Usually a Professional Standards Committee inquiry is closed to the public, although a particular Committee may decide otherwise in a particular case.

As the Committee members do not usually hold legal qualifications, a Committee may request that a legally qualified officer appointed by the Registrar to assist the Committee, if the Committee considers it requires this assistance in a particular case.

A nurse or midwife may be accompanied by an advisor and the advisor may be solicitor or barrister.  A nurse or midwife may be represented at a Committee but it is usually not permitted to have a solicitor or barrister as the representative, unless the matter before the Committee relates to the nurse or midwife's physical or mental capacity to practise.

If, during an inquiry, a Professional Standards Committee forms the opinion that the complaint may provide grounds for the suspension or cancellation of the nurse’s or midwife’s registration or enrolment, then the inquiry is terminated and the matter referred to the Nurses and Midwives Tribunal. This is because the Committee's powers do not include the power to suspend or cancel registration or enrolment whereas the Tribunal does have this power.  This is not required if the matter relates to impairment or the physical or mental capacity to practise nursing or midwifery; although a matter might otherwise warrant suspension or cancellation or registration, if the matter is health-related, it may still be dealt with by the imposition of conditions on registration, depending on the facts in the particular case, rather than by suspension or cancellation of registration or enrolment.

Appeals against determinations of a Professional Standards Committee may be lodged with the Nurses and Midwives Tribunal.