To the Honourable Members of the NSW Parliament

We, the undersigned, call on the NSW Government to immediately abolish the NSW Health Service Check Register as it applies to nurses and midwives.

NSW is the only jurisdiction in Australia that maintains a Service Check Register for public health employees. For nurses and midwives, this system operates as a de facto blacklist, preventing employment across NSW Health and destroying careers — often without transparency, procedural fairness, or meaningful avenues for appeal.

Nurses and midwives can be placed on the Service Check Register for matters that are minor, unproven, historical, or unrelated to patient safety, including internal workplace disputes or performance issues that would not prevent employment in any other state or territory. Once listed, individuals may be excluded from all NSW Health employment indefinitely, regardless of remediation, experience, or professional standing.

This policy:
* Denies nurses and midwives natural justice and procedural fairness
* Allows opaque decision-making with no clear criteria for review or removal
* Punishes workers beyond any reasonable or proportionate response
* Disproportionately impacts early-career nurses, midwives, and those who raise concerns
* Exacerbates workforce shortages during a critical staffing crisis
* Causes significant mental distress, financial hardship, and loss of professional identity

Nurses and midwives are already regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA), overseen by AHPRA, and subject to criminal history checks, mandatory reporting, and formal disciplinary processes. These existing safeguards are designed to protect patient safety while upholding fairness and due process.

The Service Check Register duplicates these mechanisms while bypassing independent oversight, undermining trust in the health system and driving skilled nurses and midwives out of NSW or out of the profession entirely.

At a time when NSW Health is struggling to recruit and retain staff, maintaining a punitive and non-transparent register is counterproductive and harmful to both workers and patients.

We therefore call on the NSW Government to:
1. Abolish the NSW Health Service Check Register as it applies to nurses and midwives
2. Immediately review and remove unfair, minor, or historical listings
3. Ensure any employment screening processes align with national nursing and midwifery standards
4. Guarantee transparency, procedural fairness, and the right to appeal in all workforce decisions
5. Work with nurses, midwives, unions, and professional bodies to reform employment practices

Nurses and midwives dedicate their careers to caring for the people of NSW. They deserve employment systems that are fair, transparent, and consistent with the rest of Australia — not a policy that silently ends careers.