Enrolled Nurse Scope Statement Consultation
The review of the Enrolled Nurse Scope of Practice statement has now closed.
We appreciate the substantial response from the nursing profession and wider health sector. The Council plans to publish the revised scope statement with any recommendations around May, then will move to the next phase that involves a review of the Enrolled Nurse Competencies and Education standards that will go out for consultation mid-year.
The Council’s fundamental role is to protect the safety of the public
by ensuring that nurses are competent, safe, and fit practitioners.
The scope and expectations of
nursing have increased significantly over the last few decades, and regulation,
practise, and employment arrangements must keep pace with these changes. The
Council, in partnership with the Enrolled Nurses Section of the New Zealand
Nurses Organisation, has therefore begun a Review of the Enrolled Nurse Scope
of Practice.
We
have begun by reviewing the Scope Statement as this represents the foundational
definition of practice which the Competencies and Standards will need to reflect.
Revising the statement provides the opportunity to consider what the Enrolled
Nurse ‘is’, what Enrolled Nurses do, and what role Enrolled Nurses play in the
Aotearoa New Zealand health system. This will also provide an opportunity to
highlight issues of concern to Enrolled Nurses that are out of scope of this
specific review, but which the Council may wish to consider in future. We then
anticipate reviewing the Competencies and Standards in 2023.
The
Council is seeking feedback on the statement
from all those with a stake in the future of enrolled nursing. Consultation is
open from 13 December 2022 until 13 February 2023. Details on the proposed
statement and how to make a submission are available on the consultation
webpage: EN Scope Statement Consultation. In addition to this current call for
submissions, in early 2023 the Council will undertake additional targeted
consultation on the statement.