NMBI’s State of the Register 2023
Louise Kavanagh McBride, President of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI) writes about its recently published State of the Register 2023, which provides valuable insights into the profile, trends, and challenges of our nursing and midwifery workforce.
In January 2023, I was privileged to become President of NMBI. As President, I am dedicated to ensuring that NMBI delivers on our statutory obligations to protect the public and the integrity of the professions, through the promotion of high standards of education, training, and professional conduct.
As the regulator for almost 85,000 nurses and midwives in Ireland, we maintain a Register of Nurses and Midwives and a Candidate Register for students; set standards for education bodies for nursing and midwifery courses; set professional standards for nurses and midwives; and consider complaints against nurses and midwives who practise in Ireland.
Having served on the Board since 2015, I am proud of the positive changes we have made to ensure NMBI is a modern and progressive regulator.
As a board, we recognise the opportunities and challenges that exist within the nursing and midwifery professions. To support our registrants and colleagues across the health sector, it is important that we have the capability to provide data which assists us in our work to maintain high standards and contribute to strategic workforce planning.
Our State of the Register 2023
As part of our digitisation programme, our aim is to ensure that we have modern systems in place to operate efficiently in the best interests of our registrants and the public.
The State of the Register 2023 provides valuable insights into the profile, trends, and challenges of our nursing and midwifery workforce. The data we gather through the annual renewal process allows us to share emerging trends in health service staffing to assist our stakeholders in future planning. Now in its second year, the State of the Register 2023 is particularly crucial to NMBI and our healthcare colleagues as we can now provide a comparison to last year and identify areas of growth and potential gaps. The data in this report will assist policy makers and service providers to plan and resource our services in a way that meets the current and future needs of our patients, service users, and communities.
We are delighted to see the nursing and midwifery professions growing. These numbers not only represent statistics but real individuals dedicating their lives to the betterment of healthcare in Ireland. The data in this report is essential for ensuring that we maintain and improve the standards of care and safety that we aspire to as professionals. I encourage all registered nurses and midwives and candidate registered student nurses and midwives to read this report and reflect on its implications for their practice and profession.
Overview of the data
The report, which is published annually, provides a detailed breakdown of the number of nurses and midwives registered in Ireland. All nurses and midwives who wish to practise in Ireland must be registered with NMBI.
The 2023 report shows that there is total of 79,489 nurses and midwives currently practising in Ireland. The figure represents a 5 per cent increase in the number of practising, compared to 75,871 in 2022.
The report indicates a steady growth in nurses and midwives registered in Ireland, underscoring the resilience of both professions and the sustained interest in critical healthcare roles. The data shows that, as of 1 June 2023, there are 84,948 nurses and midwives registered; a 4 per cent increase on the previous year and the largest number of registrants held by NMBI. There are 70,969 nurses and midwives in patient-facing roles (an increase of 7 per cent).
The 2023 figures show a 27 per cent year-on-year (6,257) increase in new registrants joining the NMBI register. New registrants include nurses and midwives qualified in Ireland, the EU, and non-EU countries. The highest percentage increases in new registrants are in the General Nurses Division and the Midwives Division.
The majority of new registrants in 2023 came from non-EU countries. In the period of this report, 1,584 new registrants qualified in Ireland (up 2 per cent), 4,542 qualified outside the EU (up 50 per cent) and 131 qualified in EU countries (down 64 per cent). Since 2022, UK registrants are no longer included in EU figures.
Nurses and midwives educated outside Ireland play an essential role in the Irish health system. In 2023, the top overseas countries from which new registrants came were India (3,272), Philippines (560), United Kingdom (232), and Zimbabwe (169). There were 250 new registrants from the UK in 2022 as opposed to 232 in 2023.
From 1 June 2022 to 31 May 2023, NMBI issued 10,679 decision letters to overseas applicants. Getting a decision letter is an essential step in the process of overseas nurses and midwives applying to join the register. For most applicants, it allows them, to fulfil a required compensation measure before applying to join the register.
As we enter the second year of our Statement of Strategy 2023-2025, we will continue to ensure we can adapt to the evolving global healthcare environment.
We will continue to engage with our registrants, the public and our key stakeholders to improve our focus, efficiency, and effectiveness. Together with the data we have from the State of the Register, we look forward to reporting on changes in the demographics of registrants.
The full State of the Register 2023 report provides an in-depth look into the registration data for the nursing and midwifery professions in Ireland. It is available for download on the NMBI website.
W: www.nmbi.ie
