Registration of cohort 2023 Primary Care Nursing and Occupational Health Nursing PGDip students by SANC

1. 
   
2. 2021 and 2022 The Nursing Council (SANC) published a list of accredited institutions for PGDIP new Nursing qualifications and listed UFS as one of the institutions along with the courses. As the registering body we trusted their advertisement and applied for the course.
   
3. We met the selection criteria according to R635 and was enrolled at UFS. SANC knew that UFS has commenced with its classes, instead of notifying the public and correcting their published institutions list dated 23 December 2022 SANC decided to only communicate with UFS regarding the conditions they needed to meet to be fully accredited. 
   
4. SANC received the list with the particulars of the 45 student in February 2023 and acknowledged the payment for registration of the students in March 2023 but still did not communicate with the students who are their members as they are all professional nurses belonging to the council regarding their status as students but exposed them intentionally by only communicating with the institution knowing that at the end they would refuse to register them.
   
5. SANC exposed the public to be used during practicals for courses which they nullified after the students graduated whereas these courses we fully accredited by SAQA. 
   
6. Instead of SANC acting as a monitor and regulator they exposed their members and benefited from the fees paid by the institution to register them as students and the additional qualification fee which was paid post studies whilst SANC claimed they were waiting for the "declaration" from the institution.
   
7. SANC had all rights to recall their members (students) by releasing a gazette as prescribed by the R635 but they failed. 
   
8. They included a conditionally accredited institution on the list of accredited universities which goes contrary to their regulation which states that the council shall publish ACCREDITED institutions. 
   
9. Instead of sanctioning UFS for contravention of the Nursing Act , they granted the institution 5 years to offer these specialities whilst they have "nullified" the courses for 2023 because they failed to reach an agreement with the university. 
   
10. Failure of SANC to effectively communicate with it's members, comply with its own regulations and hold the relevant person's accountable has severely affected the cohort of 2023 leading to missed job opportunities, blacklisted due to unpaid debt which was taken to finance these courses, mental health illnesses as well as other health issues. There's a great decline in job satisfaction as those working in their speciality areas are underpaid and have missed out on promotional posts.
    
11. We demand the registration of the cohort of 2023 as both UFS and SANC were negligent and needs to take accountability for both their shortcomings 
    
12. We demand remuneration for the service years lost due to SANC's inability to act as a monitor to regulate institutions and protect the interests of their members as well as publishing falsified misleading information. 
    
13. We demand that SANC be placed under administration because this is not the first incident and their lack of accountability, monitoring and endorsing their own regulations is the greatest stumbling block in the progression of nurses and an enabler of more than half of the litigations against the department (patient vs nurse ratios/gross shortages).
    

SAMANTHA DRURY    Contact the author of the petition