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Definitions relating to complaints and notifications
The following descriptions and definitions are extracted from the Nurses and Midwives Act 1991.
The word "complaint" is usually used in referring to matters of unsatisfactory professional conduct. Section 44(1) of the Nurses and Midwives Act 1991 states that a complaint may be made that a nurse or midwife: |
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(a) |
has been convicted of or made the subject of a criminal finding for an offence (either in or outside New South Wales) and the circumstances of the offence render the nurse or midwife unfit in the public interest to practise nursing or midwifery, or |
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(b) |
suffers from an impairment, or |
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(c) |
has been guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct, or |
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(d) |
has been guilty of professional misconduct, or |
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(e) |
does not have sufficient physical or mental capacity to practise nursing or midwifery, or |
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(f) |
is not of good character. |
Section 70B of the Nurses and Midwives Act 1991 provides that anyone may notify Board of impairment matters concerning nurses or midwives.
Section 4(1) of the Nurses and Midwives Act 1991 defines that "professional misconduct", in relation to a nurse or midwife, means unsatisfactory professional conduct of a sufficiently serious nature to justify the removal of the nurse’s or midwife’s name from a Register or the Roll.
Unsatisfactory Professional Conduct
Section 4(2) of the Nurses and Midwives Act 1991 defines "unsatisfactory professional conduct", in relation to a nurse or midwife, as including any of the following: |
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(a) |
any conduct that demonstrates that the knowledge, skill or judgment possessed, or care exercised, by the nurse or midwife in the practice of nursing or midwifery is significantly below the standard reasonably expected of a nurse or midwife of an equivalent level of training or experience, |
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(b) |
the nurse’s or midwife’s contravening (whether by act or omission) a provision of this Act or the regulations, |
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(c) |
the nurse’s or midwife’s failure to comply with an order or determination made or a direction given under section 48, 55 or 64 or with a condition of registration or enrolment, |
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(d) |
the nurse’s or midwife’s failure without reasonable excuse to comply with a direction by the Board to provide information with respect to a complaint under this Act against the nurse or midwife, |
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(d1) |
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(e) |
any other improper or unethical conduct relating to the practice of nursing or midwifery. |
In the case of nurse practitioners and midwife practitioners, a contravention of any guidelines approved by the Director-General relating to the functions of nurses and midwives as nurse practitioners or midwife practitioners may constitute professional misconduct or unsatisfactory professional conduct (see section 78A).
Section 4A defines that, for the purposes of the Act, a person is considered to "suffer from an impairment" if the person suffers from any physical or mental impairment, disability, condition or disorder which detrimentally affects or is likely to detrimentally affect the person’s physical or mental capacity to practise nursing or midwifery. Habitual drunkenness or addiction to a deleterious drug is considered to be a physical or mental disorder. |
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