Nurses Agencies Act 1957
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1957 c. 16 |
| Year | 1957 |
Nurses Agencies Act , 1957
(5 & 6 Eliz. 2) CHAPTER 16
An Act to consolidate certain enactments relating to agencies for the supply of nurses.
Be it enacted by the Queen'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:—
1 Conduct of agencies for the supply of nurses.
(1) A person carrying on an agency for the supply of nurses shall, in carrying on that agency, only supply—
(a ) registered nurses;
(b ) enrolled assistant nurses;
(c ) certified midwives;
(d ) such other classes of persons as may be prescribed.
(2) A person carrying on an agency for the supply of nurses shall, at the prescribed time and in the prescribed manner, give to every person to whom he supplies a nurse, midwife or other person a statement in writing in the prescribed form as to the qualifications of the person supplied.
(3) No person shall carry on an agency for the supply of nurses unless the selection of the person to be supplied for each particular case is made by or under the supervision of a registered nurse or a registered medical practitioner.
(4) A person carrying on an agency for the supply of nurses shall keep such records in relation thereto as may be prescribed.
2 Licensing of agencies.
(1) No person shall carry on an agency for the supply of nurses on any premises in the area of any licensing authority unless he is the holder of a licence from that authority authorising him so to do on those premises.
In this Act, the expression ‘licensing authority’ means, in relation to the City of London, the Common Council, in relation to the remainder of the administrative county of London, the London County Council, and in relation to any other county or any county borough, the council of that county or borough.
(2) Subject to the provisions of this section, if any person who desires to carry on an agency for the supply of nurses in the area of any licensing authority makes an application in that behalf to that authority in the prescribed form, in the prescribed manner, at the prescribed time and giving the prescribed information, and pays to that authority such fee as may be prescribed, the authority shall grant him a licence accordingly, subject, however, to such conditions as they may think fit for securing the proper conduct of the agency, including conditions as to the fees to be charged by the person carrying on the agency, whether to the nurses or other persons supplied, or to the persons to whom they are supplied.
(3) Any such application may be refused, and any such licence which has been granted may be revoked, on any of the following grounds, that is to say—
(a ) that the applicant or, as the case may be, the holder of the licence is an individual under the age of twenty-one years or is unsuitable to hold such a licence;
(b ) that the premises are unsuitable;
(c ) that the agency has been or is being improperly conducted; or
(d ) that offences against this Act or Part II of the Nurses Act, 1943, have been committed in connection with the carrying on of the agency.
(4) An applicant for or holder of any such licence who is aggrieved by the refusal of the licensing authority to grant such a licence, or by the revocation by the licensing authority of the licence, or by any conditions attached to the licence, may, within twenty-one days from the receipt by him of notice of the refusal or of the revocation or of the grant of the licence subject to the conditions, appeal to a court of summary jurisdiction, who may make such order as they think just; and the authority shall, if required by him in writing so to do, send or deliver to him within seven days of the receipt of the requirement particulars in writing of the ground for the refusal, the revocation or the attachment of the conditions, as the case may be.
(5) An application under this Act for the grant of a licence in respect of an agency in respect of which a licence is in force at the time of the application shall not be refused and a licence under this Act shall not be revoked by a licensing authority unless the holder has been given an opportunity of being heard by the licensing authority or a committee thereof.
(6) Every licensing authority shall in each year cause an annual meeting (either of the authority themselves or, if under any powers enabling them in that behalf, they have delegated their powers under this section to a committee, of that committee) to be held for the purpose of considering applications for licences under this Act, and every licence granted under this Act shall (unless revoked) be valid until the thirty-first day of December in the year next following that in which the licence is granted and no longer:
Provided that nothing in this subsection shall be construed as preventing the consideration of applications otherwise than at any such annual meeting.
(7) On the death of the holder of a licence under this Act, the licence shall enure for the benefit of his personal representatives, and references in this Act to the holder of such a licence shall be construed accordingly.
3 Enforcement.
(1) It shall be the duty of the licensing authority to enforce the provisions of this Act.
(2) Any registered nurse or other officer duly authorised in that behalf by the licensing authority may at all reasonable times on producing, if so required, some duly authenticated document showing his authority—
(a ) enter the premises specified in any licence or application under this Act or any premises which are used, or which that officer has reasonable cause to believe are used, for the purposes of or in connection with an agency for the supply of nurses; and
(b ) inspect those premises and records kept in connection with any such agency as aforesaid carried on at those premises,
and no person shall obstruct any such officer in the execution of his duty.
4 Penalties.
(1) Any person who carries on an agency for the supply of nurses without compliance with subsection (3) of section one of this Act or without a licence under this Act shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds and, if he continues so to do after conviction, he shall be guilty of a further offence and shall be liable on summary conviction in respect thereof to a fine not exceeding five pounds for each day on which he so continues so to carry on the agency.
(2) Any person who carries on an agency for the supply of nurses...
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