13 December 2018

 

TO:	Nursing Education Institutions
	Nursing Stakeholders

 

South African Nursing Council Examination Schedule – 2019

Attached is the Examination Schedule for 2019

Kindly take note of the following requirements applicable to the Council examinations:

1. The closing date for the examinations should be strictly adhered to and no exceptions or allowances will be made to extend these dates.

2. Only registered learners will be eligible for an examination: The Head of the Nursing Education Institution (NEI) must ensure that all learners are registered with the Council within the prescribed period. Foreign applicants apply as individuals though will have to adhere to the prescribed period.

3. Candidates will not be registered for an examination with only an identity number. Council reference numbers are needed in all cases. Please follow up with the Council Registration department first, if learners are not registered for the course before registering candidates for an examination.

4. The Council will only process applications for entry into a Council examination that meet the following requirements:

	a) The Examination Application Form is completed in full, accurately and signed by the relevant person/s. The surname and given names must be those appearing in the identity document.
	b) All the required documentation to be included.
	c) There is proof of payment of prescribed examination fee into the Council’s bank account; such payment must be done by the Nursing Education Institution (NEI) (group payment) and not by learners, except for foreign candidates.

Banking details are as follows:

Name of Bank: First National Bank
Account number: 51425166282 (Current Account)
Branch: Corporate Core Banking – Pretoria
Branch code: 253 – 145
Reference: NEI S-number followed by the type of fee code ‘EXAMFEE’

The correct reference must appear on all deposits to expedite the processing of your payment. The code ‘EXAMFEE’ must only be used for payment in respect of examination fee. This code must not be used for any other types of payment. Here is an example of what a correct reference will look like for an NEI with S-number S12345: S12345EXAMFEE

NB: The Head of the NEI must ensure that payment of fees by their Provincial Department or Head Office is made separately for each NEI and for each specific examination.

Provincial bulk payments without specifications create administrative challenges and cause a delay in processing of the applications

5. Only those candidates that have been issued an examination timetable/number will be eligible to write a Council examination.

6. All practical MARK SHEETS must be submitted to the Council by Registered mail/courier by the end of the month in which the examination is written. If the PRACTICAL MARK SHEETS in SANC format are not submitted on time, the examination results will be published without the practical marks, hence qualification certificate will not be issued to the affected candidates.

7. The Council requests Invigilators not to enclose the practical mark sheet or any other documents with the Examination package.

8. The Council reserves the right to cancel an examination reflected on the schedule if there are insufficient candidates for such an examination.

9. The Council request the NEI’s to inform all their candidates of the outcome of the examination results once published. No examination results will be given out telephonically by the Council. However, candidates will receive results via text messages (SMS).

NB: Examination fees are non-refundable according to Regulation regarding fees and fines payable to the South African Nursing Council (Regulation No.170 of 8 March 2013)

 

Ms SA Mchunu
Registrar and CEO
South African Nursing Council

14 November 2018

TO:	National Department of Health
	Provincial Departments of Health
	Nursing Education Institutions
	All Relevant Stakeholders

 

South African Nursing Council – Year-end closure

The South African Nursing Council offices will be closed for the year-end from Friday, 21 December 2018 at 12:00 midday, however for operational reasons the gates will be closed at 11:00am, and will re-open on Thursday, 3 January 2019 at 8:00am. 

Annual fees must be paid into the Council’s bank account on or before 31 December 2018 to avoid restoration fees. Bank transfers may take up to 3 work days, therefore a safe date to pay via bank transfer is by 24 December 2018.

The SANC banking details are:

Name of bank	First National Bank
Account number	514 211 86 193
Branch code	253145
Reference	Person’s own SANC reference number followed by ANLFEES

Whilst waiting for the Annual Practising Certifcate to be posted by the SANC, then employer can verify the registration status of the practitioner through the SANC website by logging into the SANC eRegister at www.sanc.co.za. To do this, they will require the practitioner’s SANC reference number or Identity Number (ID No).

Kindly inform all persons in your institutions so that they are aware of the closing dates for the SANC.

We wish you all the best over the festive season and look forward to working with you in 2019.

Kind regards,

(Signed)

Ms SA Mchunu
Registrar and CEO
South African Nursing Council

9 July 2018

TO:	National Department of Health
	Provincial Departments of Health
	Nursing Education Institutions
	All Stakeholders

 

Annual Fees for 2019

This circular serves as affirmation of the South African Nursing Council’s fees and fines as stipulated on the government gazette published on 28 June 2018.

1. ANNUAL FEES FOR 2019
1.1 NORMAL ANNUAL FEES
The annual fees for the calendar year 2019 for the different categories of practitioners are given in the following table.

CATEGORY	ANNUAL FEE FOR 2019
Registered Nurses and Midwives	R640.00
Enrolled Nurses and Midwives	R380.00
Enrolled Nursing Auxiliaries	R270.00

1.2 REDUCTIONS IN ANNUAL FEES FOR AGE 60 AND OVER
The Council has resolved to introduce reduced fees for nurses 60 years of age and over as per the table below:

1.2.1 60 TO 64 YEARS OF AGE ON 1 JANUARY 2019 (25% REDUCTION)

 

CATEGORY	ANNUAL FEE FOR 2019
Registered Nurses and Midwives	R480.00
Enrolled Nurses and Midwives	R290.00
Enrolled Nursing Auxiliaries	R200.00

1.2.2 65 YEARS OF AGE AND OLDER ON 1 JANUARY 2019 (50% REDUCTION)

 

CATEGORY	ANNUAL FEE FOR 2019
Registered Nurses and Midwives	R320.00
Enrolled Nurses and Midwives	R190.00
Enrolled Nursing Auxiliaries	R140.00

NB: To qualify for the discount amounts, a practitioner may be required to submit a certified copy of his / her identity document in order to confirm his / her age.

Notes: 
The annual fees for 2019 must be received by SANC on or before 31 December 2018.
The amounts in the tables above all include 15% VAT.

2. RESTORATION FEES FOR 2019
The restoration fees for the different categories applicable from 1 January 2019 are shown in the following table. 

CATEGORY	NORMAL RESTORATION FEE	REDUCED RESTORATION FEE
Registered Nurses and Midwives	R1 920.00	R130.00
Enrolled Nurses and Midwives	R1 160.00	R130.00
Enrolled Nursing Auxiliaries	R810.00	R130.00

Notes: 
The reduced restoration fee only applies to:

	Practitioners who were voluntarily removed from the register
	Practitioners who are or will be 60 years of age or older on 1 January 2019 are legible to pay reduced annual fees however this must be confirmed with the Council before paying the reduced amount.

3. VOLUNTARY REMOVAL 
Nurse practitioners who are no longer willing to practice in South Africa or those who are unemployed may request voluntary removal of their names from the register in writing, on the form available from the SANC. If voluntary removal is granted by SANC, the nurse practitioner’s name will be removed accordingly on the 31 December of the year in which the application is received. Once removed from the register, the nurse practitioner will no longer be required to pay any future annual fees. 

If those practitioners who were voluntarily removed from the register require their names to be restored to the register they will need to pay reduced restoration fee. It must be noted that practicing while not registered is illegal.

4. CLOSING DATE FOR PAYMENT OF ANNUAL FEES
Please note that for the calendar year 2019, the closing date for the payment of Annual Fees is 31 December 2018. Payment must reach the SANC bank account on or before the closing date. You are therefore urged to pay as soon as possible in order to avoid the last minute rush. Remember: Bank transfers from non-FNB banks take up to 3 working days – pay well in advance to meet 31 December 2018 deadline.

5. OTHER FEES
Please note that other fees and fees payable by institutions will be applicable with effect from 1 January 2019.

6. E REGISTER
The SANC has made an e Register facility available on the SANC website which can be utilized by employers to verify the registration status of all nurse practitioners in their employment. Employers are urged to utilise this facility in the absence of a physical Annual Practising Certificate (APC). Visit:https://www.sanc.co.za/eRegister.aspx for more details.

7. COMMUNITY SERVICE PRACTITIONERS
Community Service practitioners are not eligible to be issued with an APC and therefore should NOT pay annual fees. They MUST pay a conversion fee on completion of their Community Service in order to be registered as Nurse practitioners using the REGFPRA registration fee code instead of ANLFEES (e.g. 12345678 REGFPRA).

(Signed)

Ms SA Mchunu
Registrar & CEO
South African Nursing Council

23 March 2018

 

TO:	Health Regulation and Compliance (National Department of Health)
	Office of the Chief Nursing Officer  (National Department of Health)
	Directors on Nursing Education (Provincial Department of Health)
	Directors on Nursing Services/Practice (Provincial Department of Health)
	Nursing Education Institutions
	All Relevant Stakeholders

 

CPD

 

1. PURPOSE OF THE CIRCULAR
The purpose of this document is to update the Nursing profession and relevant Stakeholders about the Council’s Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and specifically the planning and implementation progress thereof. 

 

2. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF CPD
The South African Nursing Council (SANC), in line with the provisions of the Nursing Act, 2005 (Act No. 33 of 2005), is in the process of developing a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) System. This process commenced in 2013. To ensure reasonable participation in this process, the SANC established a CPD Technical Working Group (TWG) to assist it to drive the project.
The development of the CPD System is a response to the need expressed by the profession and the process of CPD seeks to ensure that Nurse Practitioners remain up-to-date with the required competencies for their specific areas of practice in Nursing. It is also seen as a mechanism that will provide opportunities to practitioners to pursue and achieve professional growth throughout their careers in order to benefit the people of South Africa.

 

The SANC is indebted to the funders of this project, namely The Atlantic Philanthropies initially and International Training and Education Centre for Health (I-TECH) from 2013 to date.

 

3. LESSONS LEARNT
Lessons learnt from research, literature as well as national and international benchmarking included: 

•	A need for gradual and ‘staggered’ implementation;
•	The development of clear guidelines regarding types of CPD activities and the weighting of activities
•	The need to perform auditing of ‘Portfolios of Evidence’ of at least 10% per annum once the full roll-out has been implemented;
•	Establishing verification and validation strategies to prevent fraud and forgery;
•	Establishing a communication strategy with Stakeholders;
•	Establishing a dedicated business unit for CPD within the structure of the SANC;
•	Establishing a CPD Committee, which will be accountable to Council; and
•	The requirement for a “fit for purpose” technology solution.

 

4. CPD REQUIREMENTS 
It is proposed that each practitioner will be required to accrue a minimum of fifteen (15) CPD points over a twelve (12) month period that will eventually be linked to the renewal of the Annual Practice Certificate (APC). It is envisaged that the cycle of accrual will commence in July of each year and end in June of the following year.

 

The required CPD points will be accrued through activities and events that are offered by CPD Service Providers who are recognised by the SANC. The criteria that will be used to recognise potential CPD Service Providers will be finalised and will be communicated widely, once approved by the Council.

 

Table 1: PROPOSED THEMES OF CPD DELIVERY

CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT GRID
NURSING CATEGORY	THEMES FOR DELIVERY AND REQUIRED CPD POINTS
	Ethical and Legal domains EL	Area of Practice AoP	Leadership and Management LM	Teaching T	Research R	Total CPD Points
Registered/ Professional Nurse	4	6	3	1	1	15
Midwife	4	6	3	1	1	15
General Nurse	4	6	3	1	1	15
Enrolled Nurse	3	9	1	2	Nil	15
Auxiliary Nurse	3	10	1	1	Nil	15

 

5. PROGRESS TO DATE
5.1 Development of a CPD Framework
A CPD Framework was initiated and developed to the current Version 3. This was possible through national and international benchmarking as well as engagement with stakeholders who provided valuable comments and input. 

 

5.2 Feasibility study
A feasibility study was conducted in November and December 2013. The aim of the study was to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability and capacity to establish an effective and sustainable SANC CPD process for Nurses and Midwives within South Africa.

 

5.3 CPD Pilot study
A CPD Pilot study was conducted in the Gauteng and Mpumalanga provinces from August 2015 to February 2016. The aim of the Pilot study was to explore the feasibility of the CPD project in order to determine the adjustments/adaptations required to facilitate a national roll-out. The findings of the Pilot study confirmed that, although there were barriers that prevented some participants from succeeding in acquiring the required CPD points, nurses expressed their support for and recognised the value of CPD. The study further yielded valuable input as to the relevance of the proposed thematic areas (highlighted in Table 1 above) as well as equitable access to CPD activities and opportunities.

 

5.4 Consultative Road shows
Road shows were conducted by the Council in all nine provinces during June to December 2016 to disseminate information on the purpose, process and nature of CPD.

The information sessions were attended by representatives from the Public and Private hospitals, the South African Military Health Services, Correctional Services, South African National Blood Services, NGOs, School Health Services, Nursing Education Institutions, Community Healthcare Centres and Clinics, Occupational Health organizations, Hospice Association and Old Age homes; as well as MTN Mobile, Eskom, PIKIT-UP and the Road Accident Fund.

 

5.5 CPD Stakeholder Forum
SANC established a CPD Stakeholder Forum, comprising of leaders in Nursing and Midwifery from the Public and Private sector, South African Military Health Services, Correctional Services, Private and Public Nursing Education Institutions and Labour organisations. This forum meets twice per annum to share information regarding progress on CPD.

 

6. CPD IMPLEMENTATION/ROLL-OUT
For various reasons, including the need to purchase an ICT application which can be utilised for CPD, the SANC is not yet ready for a full roll-out of CPD. The draft CPD Framework shared at the Stakeholders’ meeting in October 2017 is a ‘baseline’ document that will be amended as necessary. Once all the necessary systems are in place, have been tested and are approved by the Council, the roll-out plan, including the implementation time frames and approach for the implementation of CPD, will be communicated to the profession and related stakeholders.

 

For further information in respect of this Circular, you are advised to contact The Manager: CPD – Ms A. Mnguni at (012) 426 9576 or on e-mail: [email protected]

Kind regards,

(Signed)

Ms SA Mchunu
Registrar and CEO
South African Nursing Council

1 February 2018

 

TO:	National Department of Health
	Provincial Departments of Health
	Nursing Education Institutions
	All Relevant Stakeholders

Phasing out of ‘legacy’ qualifications

1. PURPOSE

The purpose of this document is to update the National Department of Health, Provincial Departments of Health, Nursing Education Institutions (NEIs) and relevant stakeholders about the following matters pertaining to nursing education and training:

•	Phasing out of the ‘legacy’ qualifications in 2019;
•	Removal of the names of certain Nursing Education Institutions, that were previously approved to offer the following phased out nursing programmes, from the South African Nursing Council (SANC) website:

– Course leading to Enrolment as a Nurse (Government Notice Regulation No. 2175 of November 1993); and 

– Course leading to Enrolment as a Nursing Auxiliary (Government Notice Regulation No. 2176 of November 1993);

•	• Registration of learners/students undergoing Nursing Education and Training programmes; and
•	• Maintenance of registration or enrolment for learners/students who are pursuing basic/ undergraduate or additional/post-graduate ‘legacy’ qualifications.

 

2. PHASING OUT OF THE ‘LEGACY’ NURSING QUALIFICATIONS

Based on:
a) Circular 13 of 2014, wherein the South African Nursing Council (SANC) informed Nursing Education Institutions and stakeholders that the ‘legacy’ nursing qualifications in point 1 above would no longer be offered after 30 June 2015 (duly gazetted as per Government Notice No. R928 of 09 October 2015); and 
b) Circular 7 of 2016, issued in December 2016, informing all NEIs and stakeholders about the process of the phasing out of ‘legacy’ nursing qualifications and implementation of the Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF)-aligned nursing qualifications, the SANC has phased out those two legacy programmes, namely: 

•	Course leading to Enrolment as a Nurse (Government Notice Regulation No. 2175 of November 1993); and
•	Course leading to Enrolment as a Nursing Auxiliary (Government Notice Regulation No. 2176 of November 1993).

In a Board Notice published in Government Gazette No. R. 801 of 06 July 2016, the Minister of Higher Education and Training, declared that the last enrolment date for first time entering students into academic programmes that are not aligned to the Higher Education Qualifications Sub-framework (HEQSF), will be 31 December 2019.

 

The implications of the phasing out of the ‘legacy’ nursing programmes for the affected NEIs are as follows:

•	Adherence to their approved numbers of students per intake;
•	Adherence to their approved number of intakes per year;
•	Adherence to their intake month/s; and
•	No learner/student will be registered with the SANC if the NEIs did not adhere to all of the above stipulations.

The SANC wishes to remind all NEI’s that are affected in respect of the above-mentioned programmes that May 2018 is the last examination date for the two-year programme leading to Enrolment as a Nurse, and that no further examinations for this programme shall be undertaken by the SANC.

 

3. REMOVAL OF NAMES OF NURSING EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS FROM THE SOUTH AFRICAN NURSING COUNCIL (SANC) WEBSITE 

Institutions that are accredited by the SANC to offer nursing programmes are published on the SANC website in order to provide the public with up-to-date information. Prospective students and the general public are encouraged to visit the SANC website to verify the name of the institution where they want to register for a nursing programme, in order to ensure that they do not apply at bogus schools.

 

Noting that displaying the names of NEIs that are no longer offering any nursing programme(s) on the SANC website could create confusion for potential nursing students who want to register for nursing programmes, the Council of the South African Nursing Council at its meeting held on 29-30 November 2017 took the following resolutions: 

•	The names of NEIs that were only approved for those nursing programmes that have already been phased out, will be removed from the SANC website, as the NEIs no longer offer programmes for which they are accredited by the SANC. Such removal is effected in the interest of the public.
•	Henceforth, there shall be two (02) separate lists of NEIs displayed on the SANC website, namely:

– NEI’s that were only accredited for the ‘legacy’ programmes that are currently being phased out; and
– NEIs accredited for the ‘new’ nursing programmes.

 

4. REGISTRATION OF LEARNERS/STUDENTS UNDERGOING NURSING EDUCATION AND TRAINING PROGRAMMES

In terms of section 32(1) of the Nursing Act No. 33 of 2005, “a person undergoing education and training in nursing must apply to the Council to be registered as a learner nurse or a learner midwife”.

 

The responsibility to register learners / students resides with the Head/ Person in charge of the NEI as provided for in section 32(3) of the Act, as follows:

“The person in charge of a Nursing Education Institution must, within 30 days, notify and furnish to the Council information prescribed by the Council in respect of each learner who has commenced, completed, transferred to or abandoned a nursing education and training programme”. (Our emphasis added.)

These provisions in the Act are applicable to all students, both under-graduates and post-graduates.

 

The provisions also place increased responsibility on the persons in charge of health facilities that are used as clinical facilities by different NEIs, as provided for in section 32(5) of the Act, as follows: “A health establishment must not allow access to clinical facilities for training purposes to anyone who is not registered in terms of this Act.’’

 

Currently some Higher Education Institutions are not compliant with these provisions, especially in respect of students undergoing nursing programmes in Clinical Nursing Science leading to registration of an additional qualification (Government Notice No. R212 of 1993). This gives rise to many actual and potential challenges, including but not limited to the following:

•	Health facilities will not allow access to clinical facilities for training purposes to anyone who is not registered, in terms of this Act.
•	A Learner/ Student database which is incomplete and inaccurate; and
•	Registration as practitioners after completion of the learning programme may legitimately be refused.

All NEIs are therefore reminded of these provisions and are urged to comply with them in respect of ALL learners/students. Failure to comply will render learners/students illegible to access clinical facilities, and result in refusal by the SANC to grant a registration certificate on completion of education and training.

 

5. MAINTENANCE OF ENROLMENT OR REGISTRATION FOR LEARNERS/STUDENTS WHO ARE PURSUING UNDERGRADUATE (BASIC) OR POSTGRADUATE (ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATIONS) STUDIES

This Circular serves as a reminder that all learners/students who are pursuing basic studies or additional qualifications must maintain their enrolment/registration with the SANC, failing which the education and training that was done while a learner/student was removed from the register/roll will be considered null and void.

 

IMPLEMENTATION DATE: This Circular becomes implementable on the date of issue.

 

For further information on this Circular, you are advised to contact the Senior Manager: Education and Training, Ms SJ Nxumalo at (012) 420 1022 or at [email protected]

Kind regards,

 

(Signed)

Ms S Mchunu
Registrar and CEO
South African Nursing Council