Nurses Registration (CAP. 296 1
CHAPTER 296
THE NURSES REGISTRATION ACT
Arrangement of Sections
Section
1. Short title.
2. Establishment and constitution of Nursing Council.
3. Register of nurses.
4. Rules.
5. Staff and expenses.
6. Fees.
7. Admission to register of persons trained outside Antigua
and Barbuda.
8. Appeal against removal from register or refusal to
register.
9. Penalties for unlawful assumption of title of registered
nurse and for falsification of register.
10. Disposal of fines paid into court.
SCHEDULE.
NURSES REGISTRATION
(29th November, 1954.) 1411954.
511956.
1111957.
1811989.
1. This Act may be cited as the Nurses Registration Short title.
Act.
2. (1) For the purposes of this Act there shall be Establishment and constitution
established a Nursing Council for Antigua and Barbuda (in .f Nursing
this Act referred to as "the Council"), which shall be a body Council.
corporate by that name with perpetual succession and a com-
mon seal.
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2 CAP. 296) Nurses Registration
(2) The Council shall be constituted in accordance with
Schedule. the provisions contained in the Schedule.
(3) The seal of the Council shall be authenticated in
the 'prescribed manner and any document purporting to be
sealed with the said seal so authenticated shall be receivable
in evidence of the particulars stated in that document.
Register of
nurses.
3. (1) It shall be the duty of the Council to form and
keep a register of nurses for the sick (in this Act referred
to as "the register") subject to and in accordance with the
provisions of this Act.
(2) The register shall consist of the following parts-
(a) a general part containing the names of all female
nurses who satisfy the conditions of admission to that
part of the register;
( b ) any other prescribed part.
(3) A certificate under the seal of the Council duly
authenticated in the prescribed manner stating that any per-
son is, or was at any date, duly registered under this Act,
shall be evidence in all courts of law of the fact stated in
the certificate.
(4) Any reference in this Act to the register shall, unless
the context otherwise requires, be deemed to include a
reference to any part of the register, and the expression
"registered" shall be construed accordingly.
Rules. 4. (1) The Council may make rules for the following
purposes-
(a) for regulating the formation, maintenance and
publication of the register;
( 6 ) for regulating the conditions of admission to
the register;
(c) for regulating the conduct of any examinations
which may be prescribed as a condition of admission
to the register, and any matters ancillary to or connected
with any such examination;
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Nurses Registration (CAP. 296 3
(d) for prescribing the causes for which, the con-
ditions under which, and the manner in which nurses
may be fined, suspended or removed from the register,
the procedure for the restoration to the register of nurses
who have been removed therefrom, and the fee to be
payable on such restoration;
(e) for regulating the summoning of meetings of
the Council and the proceedings (including quorum) of
the Council;
(f) for enabling the Council to constitute commit-
tees and for authorizing the delegation to committees
of any of the powers of the Council, and for regulating
the proceedings (including quorum) of committees;
(g) 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 Act into effect (including provision with respect to
the issue of certificates to nurses registered under this
Act and with respect to the uniform or badge which
may be worn by nurses so registered), and for pre-
scribing anything which under 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 register that that person shall have
undergone the prescribed training, and shall possess the
prescribed experience, in the nursing of the sick;
(6) requiring that the prescribed training shall be
carried out in an institution approved by the Council
in that behalf;
(c) enabling persons who, within a period of two
years after the date on which the rules to be made under
the provisions of this paragraph first come into opera-
tion, make an application in that behalf (in this Act
referred to as "an existing nurse's application") to be
admitted to the register 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 three years before the first day of
January, nineteen hundred and fifty-three, bona fide
engaged in practice as nurses in attendance on the sick,
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4 C A P . 296) Nurses Registration
under conditions which appear to the Council to be
satisfactory for the purposes of this provision and have
adequate knowledge and experience of the nursing of
the sick.
(3) Rules made by the Council shall not take effect until
they have been approved by the Cabinet.
Staff and
expenses.
5 . (1) The Council may, with the previous sanction
of the Cabinet, appoint a person to act as Secretary and
Treasurer of the Council, and may, subject to the consent
of the Cabinet, employ such other officers as the Council
consider necessary.
(2) Any expenses incurred by the Council in carrying
this Act into effect, including expenses in connection with
examinations under this Act shall be defrayed out of the sums
received by the Council under this Act.
(3) The accounts of the Council shall be audited in such
manner, and by such person, as the Council may, subject
to the approval of the Cabinet, from time to time direct,
and copies of the accounts and of any report made on the
accounts shall be transmitted to all the members of the
Council and to such other persons as the Council may direct.
Fees. 6. (1) There shall be paid to the Council in respect
of every application to be examined or to be registered under
this Act, and in respect of the retention in any year of the
name of any person on the register, such fees respectively
as the Council may, with the approval of the Cabinet, from
time to time determine:
Provided that-
(a ) in the case of an existing nurse's application
the amount of the fee payable on the application shall
be such sum, not exceeding five dollars, 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
register shall not exceed one dollar and twenty cents.
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Nurses Registration (CAP. 296 5
( 2 ) The Council may charge for any certificate or other
document issued, or in respect of any services performed
by them, such fees as may be prescribed.
7. (1) Any person who proves to the satisfaction of Admission to
register of the Council that she has been registered generally as a nurse persons trained
for the sick in the United Kingdom, shall be entitled, on outside Antipa
making an application in the prescribed manner and paying and Barbuda.
such fee not being greater than the fee payable on ordinary
applications for registration under this Act, as the Council
may demand, to be registered in a corresponding manner
under this Act.
( 2 ) Any person who proves to the satisfaction of the
Council that she has been registered generally as a nurse
for the sick in any other part of the Commonwealth or in
any foreign country, may be admitted to the final examina-
tion for nurses for the sick prescribed by the Council, on
the payment of such fee not being greater than the fee payable
on ordinary applications for admission to such final exarnina-
tion as the Council may demand, and if she successfully passes
such examination shall be entitled to be registered under this
Act:
Provided that the Council are satisfied-
(a) that there is in force in such place an enact-
ment, or a provision of any kind having the force of
law, providing for the registration of nurses under some
public authority; and
( b ) that the standard of training and examination
required for admission to the register of nurses estab-
lished under the said enactment or provision is not lower
than the standard of training and examination required
under this Act.
(3) Where there is a reciprocity agreement concerning
nurses between Antigua and Barbuda and any part of the
Commonwealth or any foreign country, any person who
proves to the satisfaction of the Council that she is registered
in such part of the Commonwealth or foreign country
generally as a nurse for the sick, shall be entitled, on making
an application in the prescribed manner and paying such
fee, not being greater than the fee payable on ordinary
applications for registration under this Act, as the Council
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CAP. 296) Nurses Registration
may demand, to be registered in a corresponding manner
under this Act.
Appeal against
removal from
register or refusal
to register.
Penalties for
unlawful
assumption of
title of registered
nurse and for
falsification of
register.
8. Any person aggrieved by the removal of her name
from the register or by the refusal of the Council to register
her may, within three months after the date on which notice
is given to her by the Council of such removal or refusal,
appeal against the Council's decision to the High Court and
such appeal shall be heard by a single judge in chambers
who shall give such directions in the matter as he may think
proper, including a direction as to costs of the appeal and
the order of the judge shall be final and conclusive and not
subject to an appeal to any other Court.
9. (1) Any person who-
(a) not being a person duly registered under this
Act takes or uses the name or title of registered nurse
or registered nursing practitioner, either alone or in com-
bination with any other words or letters, or any name,
title, addition, description, uniform or badge, imply-
ing that she is registered under this Act, or is recog-
nized by law as a registered nurse; or
( b ) being a person whose name is included in any
part of the register, at any time after the expiration of
the period aforesaid takes or uses any name, title, addi-
tion, description, uniform or badge, or otherwise does
any act of any kind implying that her name is included
in some other part of the register; or
(t) at any time with intent to deceive makes use
of any certificate of registration as a nurse issued under
this Act to her or to any other person,
shall be liable on summary conviction in the case of a first
offence, to a fine of five hundred dollars or to imprisonment
for a term of three months, and in the case of a second or
any subsequent offence, to a fine of three thousand dollars
or to a term of imprisonment for six months.
(2) If any person wilfully makes, or causes to be made
any falsification in any matter relating to the register, he
shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of three
thousand dollars or to a term of imprisonment for six months.
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Nurses Registration (CAP. 296 7
10. Any sum or sums of money arising from sum- Disposal of fines
mary conviction and recovery of penalties imposed by this paid into court.
Act or by any rule made thereunder shall be paid to the
Magistrate, who shall pay the same to the Secretary-
Treasurer for use by the Council.
SCHEDULE
1. The Council shall consist of seven members.
2. On its first constitution the Council shall be composed
of the following persons, namely-
(a) two persons appointed by the Cabinet;
(b) two persons appointed by the Medical Board of
Antigua and Barbuda;
(c) three persons appointed by the Nurses and Midwives
Association of Antigua and Barbuda.
3. The first members of the Council shall hold office for
such term, not less than one year and not exceeding four years
from the comencement of this Act, as the Cabinet may determine.
4. After the expiration of the term of office of the first
members of the Council, the Council shall be composed of the
following persons, namely-
(a) two persons appointed by the Cabinet;
(6) two persons appointed by the Medical Board of
Antigua and Barbuda; and
(6) three persons not less than two of whom shall be
persons registered as nurses under this Act, elected in accord-
ance with the prescribed scheme and in the prescribed man-
ner by the persons registered as nurses under this Act and
so registered at the date of election.
5 . Any members of the Council other than the first members
thereof shall hold office for a term of three years.
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8 CAP. 296) Nurses Registration
6. If the place of a member of the Council becomes vacant
before the expiration of his term of office whether by death, resigna-
tion, or otherwise, the vacancy shall be filled by appointment by
the body or persons by whom the member was appointed, or,
if the vacating member was an elected member, by the Council.
The Council in co-opting a member under the foregoing provi-
sion shall, so far as practicable, select a person, being a person
registered as a nurse under this Act who is representative of the
same interests as those represented by the vacating member. Any
person appointed or elected to fill a casual vacancy shall hold office
only so long as the member in whose stead he is appointed or
elected would have held office.
7. If any member of the Council is prevented by illness,
temporary absence from Antigua and Barbuda or any other cause
from performing the duties of his office as such member-
(a) if such member was appointed by the Cabinet or by
the Medical Board under paragraph 4 of this Schedule; the
Cabinet or the said Medical Board, as the case may be, may
appoint a person to act in place of such member until such
member is again able to perform the duties of his office or
ceases to be a member of the Council, whichever is the earlier;
(6) if such member was elected in accordance with the
scheme referred to in paragraph 4 of this Schedule, the Coun-
cil may appoint a person to act in the place of such member
until such member is again able to perform the duties of his
office or ceases to be a member of the Council, whichever
is the earlier:
Provided that in appointing a person under this sub-paragraph
the Council shall, so far as practicable, select a person, being a
person registered as a nurse under this Act who is representative
of the same interests as those represented by such members.
8. Any member ceasing to be a member of the Council
shall be eligible for re-appointment or re-election.
9. The powers of the Council may be exercised notwith-
standing any vacancy in their number.
