Cap. 464 Art. 22Functions of the Council for Nurses and Midwives.

(1) The functions of the Council for Nurses and Midwives shall be:

(a) to recommend to the President of Malta the granting of licences to midwives to practise their profession;

(b) to recommend to the President of Malta the withdrawal of licences in respect of any midwife in accordance with article 38;

(c) to keep, publish and update registers in respect of the nursing and midwifery professions; and specialist registers of the nursing and midwifery professions as may be prescribed as well as registers of special areas of practice as may be determined by the Council for Nurses and Midwives;

(d) to prescribe and maintain professional and ethical standards for the nursing and midwifery professions;

(e) to inform the Member State of origin or the Member State from which the foreign national comes, of any serious matter which occurred outside Malta, prior to the establishment of that person in Malta, and which is likely to effect the taking up of the activity of any of the professions regulated by it in Malta;

(f) to verify the accuracy of the facts communicated to it by other Member States, decide the nature and extent of any investigation to be made pursuant thereto and inform such Member State of any action taken with regard to the certificates or documents issued by them;

(g) to ensure the confidentiality of all the information forwarded to other Members States;

(h) to forward to any Member State concerned all the information regarding measure taken in respect of a healthcare professional as well as regarding any criminal penalties imposed on such profession;

(i) to levy such fees, from registered nurses and midwives, for initial registration and yearly retention fees thereafter, as may be prescribed, in consultation with such associations as appropriate;

(j) at the request of the Minister or otherwise, to advise the Minister on any matter affecting the nursing and midwifery professions;

(k) to perform any other function that may be assigned to it by this Act or any other law.

(2) The Council for Nurses and Midwifery may set up committees for the purposes of enforcing professional and ethical standards applicable to nurses and midwives and generally in order to better perform its functions.

(3) Subject to any rules made for it by the Council for Nurses and Midwives or to any rule that may be prescribed, any committee established under sub-article (2) may regulate its own procedure.

(4) The Council for Nurses and Midwives shall publish an annual activity report, not later than the end of the first quarter of the year following the end of the year reported upon, containing a statement of the activities carried out or pursued by the Council for Nurses and Midwives during the year.