XN000022-1997-02-19 — Page 20

Bill on Nurses Registration

Following is the speech by the Secretary for Health and Welfare, Mrs Katherine Fok, in moving the second reading of the Nurses Registration (Amendment) Bill 1997 in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Mr President,

I move that the Nurses Registration (Amendment) Bill 1997 be read the second time.

The Nurses Registration Ordinance ("the Ordinance") was enacted in 1961 to provide a legislative framework for the registration of nurses and the practice of nursing in Hong Kong. Though various provisions in the Ordinance, such as the restriction on the use of the title "nurse" and the introduction of a practising certificate have been amended in the past two years, certain legislative provisions of the Ordinance have to be amended to meet current day needs. The proposals of this Bill cover matters including the naming, the composition and the operation of the Nursing Board, as well as matters concerning the disciplinary power of the Board.

A proposal of the Bill is to expand the membership of the present Board. Currently, the Board comprises 17 members, most of whom are appointed by the Governor. In order to broaden its representation, we propose to increase the number of lay members from one to two, and six members shall be elected from all registered and enrolled nurses. To encourage a greater involvement of the profession in the affairs of the Board, we also propose to select two members from each of the tertiary institutions which have a nursing programme. In addition, the number of appointed registered nurses should be reduced from ten to six, and the appointment of State registered nurses of the United Kingdom to the Board will be cancelled. The above changes will bring the number of members on the Nursing Council of Hong Kong to 20.

The existing Nursing Registration Ordinance does not provide for limited registration. In order to enable nurses who have have engaged in the training of nurses overseas and those trained outside Hong Kong to practise nursing while undertaking short term post-registration training courses in Hong Kong, we propose to provide for this registration arrangement.

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