Nurses Act 1943
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1943 c. 17 |
| Year | 1943 |
Nurses Act, 1943
(6 & 7 Geo. 6.) CHAPTER 17.
An Act to provide for the enrolment of assistant nurses for the sick, to restrict the use of the name or title of nurse, to regulate agencies for the supply of nurses for the sick and to amend the Nurses Registration Act, 1919.
[22nd April 1943]
Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I.
Enrolment of Assistant Nurses.
1 Roll of assistant nurses.
(1) It shall be the duty of the General Nursing Council for England and Wales (in this Act referred to as ‘the Council’) to form and keep a roll of assistant nurses subject to and in accordance with the provisions of this Act.
(2) A certificate under the seal of the Council duly authenticated in the prescribed manner stating that any person is, or was at any date, or is not, or was not at any date, duly enrolled shall be evidence in all courts of law of the fact stated in the certificate.
2 Rules.
(1) The Council shall make rules for the following purposes—
(a ) for regulating the formation, maintenance and publication of the roll;
(b ) for regulating the conditions of admission to the roll;
(c ) for regulating the conduct of any examinations which may be prescribed as a condition of admission to the roll, and any matters ancillary to or connected with any such examinations;
(d ) for prescribing the causes for which, the conditions under which and the manner in which persons may be removed from the roll, the procedure for the restoration to the roll of persons who have been removed therefrom, and the fee to be payable on such restoration;
(e ) generally for making provision with respect to any matters with respect to which the Council think that provision should be made for the purpose of carrying this Part of this Act into effect (including provision with respect to the issue of certificates to persons enrolled and with respect to the uniform or badge which may be worn by persons enrolled), and for prescribing anything which under this Part of this Act is to be prescribed.
(2) Rules under this section shall contain provisions—
(a ) requiring as a condition of the admission of any person to the roll that that person shall have undergone the prescribed training, and shall possess the prescribed experience, in nursing; and
(b ) requiring that the prescribed training shall be carried out either in an institution approved by the Council in that behalf or in the service of the Admiralty, the Army Council or the Air Council; and
(c ) enabling persons who, within the period of two years after the date on which the rules to be made under the provisions of this paragraph first come into operation, make an application in that behalf (in this Act referred to as ‘an existing assistant nurse's application’), to be admitted to the roll on producing evidence to the satisfaction of the Council that they are of good character, are of the prescribed age, are persons who were for at least the prescribed period before the seventeenth day of March, nineteen hundred and forty-three, bona fide engaged in practice as nurses under conditions which appear to the Council to be satisfactory for the purposes of this provision and have such knowledge and experience of nursing as to justify their enrolment.
(3) If provision is made by Parliament, or by the Parliament of Northern Ireland, for the establishment of a roll of assistant nurses in Scotland or Northern Ireland, the Council—
(a ) shall make rules under this section enabling persons enrolled as assistant nurses in Scotland or Northern Ireland, as the case may be, to obtain admission to the roll established under this Part of this Act;
(b ) shall with a view to securing a uniform standard of qualification in all parts of the United Kingdom, consult with the body responsible for keeping the roll in Scotland or, as the case may be, in Northern Ireland before making any rules or, as the case may be, any further rules, under this section with respect to the conditions of admission to the roll.
3 The Assistant Nurses Committee.
(1) There shall be a Committee of the Council, to be called the Assistant Nurses Committee (in this Act referred to as ‘the Committee’), constituted in accordance with the provisions contained in the First Schedule to this Act.
(2) Any matter which wholly or mainly concerns assistant nurses shall stand referred to the Committee and any other matter may be referred by the Council to the Committee; and the Committee shall consider the matter and report upon it to the Council, and the Council, before taking any action on the matter, shall, unless in the opinion of the Council the matter is urgent, receive and consider the report of the Committee:
Provided that the following matters, that is to say—
(a ) any question whether any person shall be removed from or restored to the roll, and any matter arising out of any such question; and
(b ) any other matter referred to the Committee in so far as the Council expressly authorise the Committee to deal with it,
shall be finally dealt with by the Committee on behalf of the Council, and the Committee shall make a report to the Council as to the way they have dealt with it.
(3) The Council may pay to members of the Committee sums (to be calculated in accordance with directions to be given by the Minister) in respect of their travelling expenses and by way of subsistence allowance.
4 Fees.
(1) There shall be paid to the Council in respect of every application to be examined or to be enrolled under this Act, and in respect of the retention in any year of the name of any person on the roll, such fees respectively as the Council may, with the approval of the Minister, from time to time determine:
Provided that—
(a ) in the case of an existing assistant nurse's application, the amount of the fee payable on the application shall be such sum, not exceeding one guinea, as the Council, with such approval as aforesaid, may determine; and
(b ) the amount of the fee payable in respect of the retention in any year of the name of any person on the roll shall not exceed two shillings and sixpence.
(2) It is hereby declared that the power conferred on the Council by subsection (2) of section five of the principal Act to charge fees for certificates and documents issued, and services performed, by them extends to certificates, documents and services issued and performed under this Part of this Act.
5 Appeal against removal from roll, and against refusal to approve institution.
(1) Any person aggrieved by the removal of his name from the roll may, within three months after the date on which notice is given to him by the Committee that his name has been so removed, appeal against the removal to the High Court, and on any such appeal, the High Court may give such directions in the matter as it thinks proper, including directions as to the costs of the appeal, and the order of the High Court shall be final.
(2) Any person aggrieved by the refusal of the Council to approve any institution for the purposes of the rules under this Act relating to training may appeal against the refusal to the Minister and the Minister, after considering the matter, shall give such directions thereon as he thinks proper, and the Council shall comply with any directions so given.
6 Restriction on use of title of nurse and assistant nurse and penalties for misuse of certificates and falsification.
(1) As from such date as the Minister may by order direct, any person who, not being a duly registered nurse under the principal Act or a duly enrolled assistant nurse, takes or uses the name or title of nurse, either alone or in combination with any other words or letters, shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding, in the case of a first offence, ten pounds, and in the case of a second or any subsequent offence, fifty pounds:
Provided that (without prejudice to the provisions of section eight of the principal Act)—
(a ) nothing in this subsection shall prevent a children's nurse from taking or using the name or title of nurse, unless the circumstances in which, or the words or letters in combination with which, the name or title is taken or used are such as to suggest that he is something other than a children's nurse;
(b ) the Minister may by regulations authorise the use, either generally or by specified classes of persons or in specified circumstances, of specified names or titles containing the word nurse or of the word nurse otherwise qualified in accordance with the regulations;
(c ) a person shall not be guilty of an offence under this subsection by reason only that, without objection by him, other persons use the word nurse in addressing or referring to him;
(d ) proceedings for an offence under this subsection shall not be instituted except with the consent of the Minister.
(2) Any person who—
(a ) not being a person duly enrolled, takes or uses any name, title, addition, description, uniform or badge, implying that he is enrolled or is recognised by law as enrolled; or
(b ) at any time with intent to deceive makes use of any certificate of enrolment issued to him or to any other person,
shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding, in the case of a first offence, ten pounds, and, in the case of a second or any subsequent offence, fifty pounds.
(3) If any person wilfully makes, or causes to be made, any falsification in any matter...
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