Nursing Homes and Nursing Agencies Act (Northern Ireland) 1971
An Act to consolidate certain enactments relating to nursing homes and nursing agencies.
[7th December 1971]
Part I (ss. 1-10) rep. by 1992 NI 20
PART II
NURSING AGENCIES
11. Conduct of nursing agencies.
— [ (1) A person carrying on a nursing agency shall, in carrying on that agency, supply only — (a)
registered nurses and registered midwives; and
(b)
such other classes of persons as may be prescribed. ]
(2) A person carrying on a nursing agency shall, at the prescribed time and in the prescribed manner, give to every person to whom he supplies a nurse, midwife or other person a statement in writing in the prescribed form as to the qualifications of the person supplied.
(3) A person shall not carry on a nursing agency unless the selection of the person to be supplied for each particular case is made by or under the supervision of a [ registered and qualified nurse ] or a fully registered person.
(4) A person carrying on a nursing agency shall keep such records in relation thereto as may be prescribed. 12. Licensing of nursing agencies.
— (1) A person shall not carry on a nursing agency on any premises unless he is the holder of a licence issued by the Ministry authorising him to do so on those premises.
(2) Subject to the provisions of this Part, if any person desiring to carry on a nursing agency makes an application in that behalf to the Ministry in the prescribed form, in the prescribed manner, at the prescribed time and giving the prescribed information, and pays to the Ministry the prescribed fee, the Ministry shall issue to him a licence accordingly.
(3) A licence issued under subsection (2) shall be subject to such conditions as may seem to the Ministry to be appropriate for securing the proper conduct of the agency, including conditions as to the fees to be charged by the person carrying on the agency, whether to the nurses, midwives or other persons supplied, or to the persons to whom they are supplied. 13. Circumstances in which licences may be refused or revoked.
— (1) An application for a licence under section 12 may be refused, and any licence issued under section 12 may be revoked, on any of the following grounds
— (a)
that the applicant or, as the case may be, the holder of the licence is an individual under the age of twenty-one years or is unsuitable to hold such a licence;
(b)
that the premises are unsuitable;
(c)
that the nursing agency has been or is being improperly conducted;
(d)
that an offence under section 16 has been committed in connection with the carrying on of the nursing agency.
(2) Before refusing any application for a licence under section 12 or revoking any such a licence, the Ministry shall give to the applicant or, as the case may be, to the holder of the licence not less than fourteen days' notice of the Ministry's intention in that behalf.
(3) Every notice under subsection (2) shall — (a)
state the grounds on which the Ministry intends to refuse the application or, as the case may be, to revoke the licence; and
(b)
contain an intimation that, if, within fourteen days after the receipt of the notice, the applicant or, as the case may be, the holder of the licence informs the Ministry in writing that he desires to do so, the Ministry will, before proceeding to such refusal or, as the case may be, revocation, give him (in person or by a representative) an opportunity of showing cause why the application should not be refused or, as the case may be, why the licence should not be revoked.
(4) Where the Ministry, after giving the applicant or, as the case may be, the holder of the licence (if, under subsections (2) and (3), he is entitled to do so) an opportunity of showing cause as aforesaid, decides to refuse the application or, as the case may be, to revoke the licence, the Ministry shall make an order to that effect and shall send a copy of the order by registered post or by the recorded delivery service to the applicant or, as the case may be, to the holder of the licence.
(5) An applicant for a licence under section 12 who is aggrieved by the refusal of the Ministry to issue such a licence to him, or a holder of such a licence who is aggrieved by the revocation by the Ministry of the licence, or by any conditions attached to the licence, may, within twenty-one days from the receipt by him of notice of the refusal of the licence or, as the case may be, of the revocation of the licence or of the issue of the licence subject to the conditions, appeal to a court of summary jurisdiction, which may make such order thereon as it thinks just.
(6) The Ministry shall, if required by the person aggrieved to do so, send or deliver to him, within seven days from the receipt of the requirement, particulars in writing of the ground for the refusal or, as the case may be, for the revocation or the attachment of the conditions. 14. Supplementary provisions relating to licences.
— (1) Every licence issued under section 12 shall, unless revoked, be valid until the 31st December in the year next following that in which the licence is issued, and no longer.
(2) On the death of the holder of a licence issued under section 12, the licence shall enure for the benefit of his personal representatives, and references in this Part to the holder of such a licence shall be construed accordingly. 15. Enforcement.
Any duly authorised officer of the Ministry may at all reasonable times, on production (if so required) of his authority
— (a)
enter the premises specified in any licence issued under section 12, or in any application for such a licence, or any premises which are used, or which that officer has reasonable cause to believe to be used, for the purposes of, or in connection with, a nursing agency; and
(b)
inspect those premises and the records kept in connection with any such agency carried on at those premises;
and a person shall not obstruct any such officer in the execution of his duty.
16. Offences, etc.
— (1) Any person who carries on a nursing agency in contravention of section 11(3), or without a licence issued under section 12, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding
[ level 3 on the standard scale ] and, if he continues to carry on the agency after conviction for such an offence, to an additional fine not exceeding £ 5 for each day on which he so continues to carry on the agency.
(2) Any person who carries on a nursing agency otherwise than in accordance with the conditions of his licence shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding [ level 1 on the standard scale ] and, if the contravention in respect of which he has been convicted is continued after the conviction, to an additional fine not exceeding £ 2 for each day on which the contravention is so continued.
(3) Any person carrying on a nursing agency who, in carrying on that agency, supplies any person in contravention of section 11(1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding [ level 3 on the standard scale ] .
(4) Any person who — (a)
makes, or causes or knowingly permits to be made, any entry in a record required to be kept under this Part which he knows to be false in a material particular; or
(b)
for purposes connected with this Part, produces or furnishes, or causes or knowingly permits to be produced or furnished, any record or information which he knows to be false in a material particular; or
(c)
for the purpose of obtaining a licence under section 12, makes any statement which he knows to be false in a material particular, or recklessly makes any statement which is false in a material particular;
shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to a fine not exceeding [ level 3 on the standard scale ] , or to both.
(5) Any person who commits any contravention of this Part for which a special penalty is not provided by the foregoing provisions of this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding [ level 1 on the standard scale ] .
(6) Where the person carrying on a nursing agency is convicted under this section of an offence committed in the carrying on of that agency on any premises, the court may (in lieu of, or in addition to, imposing any other penalty) make an order revoking the licence, if any, issued under section 12 authorising the carrying on of that agency on those premises.
(7) Where any offence under this section by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the body, he, as well as the body corporate, shall be deemed to be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
(8) Where any person is convicted of an offence under this section, the proper officer of the court by which that person is convicted shall forthwith send to the Ministry notice of that conviction. 17. Application of Part II, etc.
— (1) The foregoing provisions of this Part shall not apply to
— (a)
any nursing agency carried on in connection with any hospital maintained or controlled by any Government department or by any body constituted by or under any enactment or incorporated by Royal Charter; or
(b)
the business carried on by any county or district nursing association or other similar organisation, being an association or organisation established and existing wholly or mainly for the purpose of providing patients with the services of a nurse to visit them in their homes without the nurse taking up residence there.
(2) ... any provisions relating to employment agencies or servants registries contained in any local Act, shall not apply to a nursing agency, but this subsection shall not exempt from any such provisions any other business carried on in conjunction with a nursing agency. 18. Regulations.
— (1) The Ministry may make regulations for prescribing anything which under this Part is to be prescribed.
(2) Regulations under this section shall be subject to negative resolution. 19. Interpretation of Part II.
In this Part
— “ enactment ” includes an enactment in any Act of Parliament (whether of the Parliament of the United Kingdom or of the Parliament of Northern Ireland and whether public general, local or private) and a provision in a statutory order;
Definition rep. by 1979 c. 36
“ nursing agency ” means the business (whether or not carried on for gain and whether or not carried on in conjunction with another business) of supplying persons to act as nurses or of supplying persons to act as nurses and persons to act as midwives;
“ prescribed ” means prescribed by regulations under section 18.
PART III
SUPPLEMENTAL
20. General definitions.
In this Act
— Definition rep. by 1979 c. 36
“ fully registered person ” has the meaning assigned to it by
[ section 55 of the Medical Act 1983 ] ;
Definition rep. by 1979 c. 36
“ the Ministry ” [ means the Department of Health and Social Services ] .
Ss. 21, 22 rep. by 1992 NI 20
23. Short title and commencement.
This Act may be cited as the Nursing Homes and Nursing Agencies Act (Northern Ireland) 1971
… Commencement …
Schedules 1, 2 rep. by 1992 NI 20
