Legal Requirement for Registers and Roll to be available

Section 16 and section 26 of the Nurses and Midwives Act 1991 require that the Nurses and Midwives Board maintain a Register of Nurses, Register of Midwives and Roll of Nurses, and provide access for members of the public to inspect the documents, including via the internet. The addresses of nurses and midwives are not part of the Registers or Roll and are kept separately. 

Part 3 of the Privacy Code of Practice (General) 2003 provides that certain agencies responsible for keeping public registers may disclose personal information kept in the register without being satisfied that the information is to be used for a purpose relating to the purpose of the register or the Act under which the register is kept. The Register of Nurses, Register of Midwives and Roll of Nurses are specified in this regard in Schedule 2 to the Code.

Suppression of Personal Information

Section 58 of the Privacy and Personal Information Act 1998 provides the opportunity for nurses and midwives to request that personal information held about them on the Register or Roll of nurses (a) either be removed from or not placed on the Register or Roll as publicly available or (b) not disclosed to the public.

If a nurse or midwife wishes to request the suppression of her or his personal information, a written request must be submitted to the Board clearly stating the reason for the request and the possible repercussions to themselves or any other person if this information is not suppressed. 

The Board will generally only suppress this information if the safety or well being of any person would be affected by not suppressing this information AND the public interest in maintaining access to the information does not outweigh any individual interest in suppressing the information.