The Nursing and Midwifery Council of NSW (the Council) works in collaboration with the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) to receive and manage complaints about registered nurses and midwives in NSW. The Council’s paramount legal obligation is to protect the public. We deal with nurses and midwives whose conduct, performance or health may represent a risk to the public or is not in the public interest.
There are over 120,000 registered nurses and midwives in NSW with the Council receiving less than 1% of practitioner complaints against them in the last financial year.
On a regular basis the Council send newsletters to nurses and midwives to draw attention to current issues and remind them of the professional standard guidelines for all registered health practitioners. Recently the Council were made aware of the potential inappropriate use of the social media platform, OnlyFans. The most recent newsletter aimed to reinforce the professional standards for nurses and midwives, including how inappropriate conduct on social media can lead to complaints of unsatisfactory professional conduct or professional misconduct.
The social media guidelines are developed by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia to ensure that nurses and midwives are meeting their obligations under the National Law.
By law, the Council cannot provide information about an individual complaint or practitioner unless it is information that is publicly available, such as information that is recorded on the national register of practitioners, which is maintained by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra).
The Council will not make any further public comments at this time.
