Nursing board appoints aged care exec

BlueCross Aged Care executive Penelope Marshall has been appointed as the newest member of the national nursing board.

Executive general manager of clinical governance, risk and innovation at Victorian provider BlueCross Aged Care – Ms Marshall – has over 25 years of experience in healthcare and is a passionate advocate of the aged care sector.

She has been appointed as Victorian Practitioner representative to the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, which works to ensure the nation’s nurses and midwives are suitably trained, qualified and safe to practise.

Ms Marshall said she was excited to be able to provide an aged care focus to board discussions.

“A lot of my focus at the board will be on speeding up the pathway to work. For aged care, that might look like nursing students working in aged care, but with work hours and clinical hours coming off their university requirements for example.

“I am also passionate about the value more nurse practitioners could add – especially with prescribing authority in aged care. And I am keen to advocate for wellbeing and support services for nurses and midwives, especially those that are reported to the board for impairment or code of conduct concerns,” Ms Marshall said.

The NBMA works in partnership with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. Its functions include:

• registering nursing and midwifery practitioners and students
• developing standards, codes and guidelines for the nursing and midwifery profession
• handling notifications, complaints, investigations and disciplinary hearings
• assessing overseas-trained practitioners who wish to practise in Australia
• approving accreditation standards and accredited courses of study.

Appointments to the NMBA are made by health ministers.

“The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia welcomes Penelope Marshall to the board as its latest appointed practitioner member,” a spokersperson for the NWMA told Australian Ageing Agenda in statement.

To ensure an effective and highly functioning board, ministers appoint practitioner and community members with diverse backgrounds and experience, but no member is appointed as a representative of a specific sector or industry, the spokesperson said.

“Board members bring with them knowledge and expertise for the work of the NMBA to support public safety.”

Main image: Penelope Marshall

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