Citation and commencement

1.  This Order may be cited as the Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors (Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 1998 and shall come into force on 17th November 1998.

Amendment of the Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors (Educational Policy Advisory Committee) Order 1983

2.  In the Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors (Educational Policy Advisory Committee) Order 1983(2), in article 2(5)(c)(iii), for “mental handicap” substitute “learning disabilities”.

Amendment of the Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors (Parts of the Register) Order 1983

3.  In the Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors (Parts of the Register) Order 1983(3), in Schedule 1 (Parts of the Register), in each of the entries for parts 5, 6 and 14(4), for “mental handicap” substitute “learning disabilities”.

Effect on registration

4.  Nothing in this Order shall affect—

(a)the continuing registration of a nurse who is registered in part 5, 6 or 14 of the register on the day on which this Order comes into force;

(b)the restoration to any of those parts of the register of a nurse who has been removed from that part; or

(c)the registration in any of those parts of the register of a person who would have been entitled to registration in that part if this Order had not been made, by virtue of being a nurse trained in the nursing of persons suffering from mental handicap or, as the case may be, a nurse qualified following a course of preparation in mental handicap nursing.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order amends the Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors (Parts of the Register) Order 1983 (“the Parts of the Register Order”) and the Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors (Educational Policy Advisory Committee) Order 1983 (“the Educational Policy Advisory Committee Order”).

Article 2 substitutes a reference to “persons suffering from learning disabilities” for a reference to “persons suffering from mental handicap” in the Educational Policy Advisory Committee Order. This reflects a change of terminology in use in the nursing profession.

Article 3 amends the entries in the Parts of the Register Order relating to parts 5, 6 and 14 of the register of qualified nurses, midwives and health visitors maintained under section 7 of the Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors Act 1997. Again, it substitutes a reference to learning disabilities nursing for the previous reference to mental handicap nursing.

Article 4 confirms that the change in terminology has no effect on the continuing registration of nurses registered in parts 5, 6 or 14 of the register, restoration to any of those parts of the register, or the entitlement of nurses who have been trained in mental handicap nursing to registration in any of those parts.

This Order imposes no costs on business.