The Nursing Council of New Zealand (NCNZ) are the professional body responsible for the registration of nurses in New Zealand, setting standards for nursing education and practice.
The council was established in 1902. New Zealand was the first country to legally require nurses to be registered.
In 2013, the Nursing Council was involved in a professional conflict with the nurse Poh Sim Roberts, who was accused by the Tairawhiti District Health Board of professional incompetence as a member of a medical flight team. She denied these claims, supported by official documents and internal correspondence depicting her as an asset to her hospital with no negative feedback recorded, and instead felt she was being penalised for the service losing money. A mediation meeting was arranged which reached a settlement satisfactory to Nurse Roberts. Tairawhiti District Health Board in the meantime had reported Nurse Roberts to the Nursing Council of New Zealand for professional misconduct, alleging that she had visited the home of a former patient and, as allegedly witnessed by the patient's adult son, had used foul and abusive language. A Professional Conduct Committee of the Nursing Council of New Zealand took over two years to complete an investigation into the allegation. It failed to obtain a signed statement from the former patient or a statement from the adult son. The evidence against Nurse Roberts comprised hearsay statements given by nursing staff at Gisborne Hospital. On the basis of these hearsay statements the Professional Conduct Committee found that Nurse Roberts was guilty of the conduct alleged but decided that no further action should be taken. The Professional Conduct Committee had no power to reach a finding of guilt and in doing so usurped the function of a disciplinary Tribunal that should have been convened to hear the evidence. The experience having damaged her health, Nurse Roberts made the decision to return home to England after conclusion of the mediation meeting and resumed her nursing practice there. Nurse Roberts trained as a nurse and midwife in Malaysia and had a thirty-five year unblemished nursing career prior to these incidents. Whilst training in Malaysia she won the National Prize for best trainee nurse and best trainee midwife, to date a unique achievement.