First national health support service for nurses and midwives launches today

08 Mar 2017

Nurses and midwives now have 24 hour access to confidential health support anywhere in Australia, after an independent health service launched today.

The new service, which is a Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) initiative, is run independently by Turning Point, a leading addiction treatment, research and education organisation in Australia.

Nurse & Midwife Support will offer a round the clock telephone service as well as online support, providing advice and referral on health issues for Australia’s nurses, midwives and nursing and midwifery students.

The NMBA Chair Associate Professor Lynette Cusack, a registered nurse, welcomed today’s launch of the service and said that it will make a strong contribution to public safety.

‘Australia relies on its 380,208 nurses and midwives for quality healthcare across many different settings, but nurses and midwives can experience health issues too.

‘Nurse & Midwife Support will serve an important role in helping our nurses and midwives to stay healthy. It will help to ensure that they are supported to practise safely so that they can continue to support the healthcare needs of every Australian.’

The service will provide education and support on health impairment¹ as defined in the National Law² for nurses, midwives, students, education providers and employers.

To access Nurse & Midwife Support, call 1800 667 877 or visit the Nurse & Midwife Support website.

¹Health (Impairment) (s. 5): Physical or mental impairment, disability, condition or disorder (including substance abuse or dependence), that detrimentally affects or is likely to detrimentally affect a registered health practitioner’s capacity to safely practise the profession or a student’s capacity to undertake clinical training.

²The Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, as in force in each state and territory (the National Law).