Inspectors
36.—(1) The Board may appoint one or more public officers as inspectors to investigate the commission of an offence under this Act or any regulations made under this Act.
(2) In any case relating to the commission of an offence under this Act or any regulations made under this Act, an inspector has the power to do all or any of the following:(a)
to require any person whom the inspector has reason to believe has any article, document or information relevant to the carrying out of the provisions of this Act or the regulations made under this Act, to produce any such article or document, or give such information, and to retain such article or document, or make copies of such article or document;
(b)
to examine orally any person supposed to be acquainted with the facts and circumstances relevant to the carrying out of the provisions of this Act or the regulations made under this Act, and to reduce into writing the answer given or statement made by that person who is bound to state truly the facts and circumstances with which that person is acquainted, and the statement made by that person must be read over to that person and must, after correction, be signed by that person;
(c)
to require by written order the attendance before the inspector of any person who, from information given or otherwise, appears to be acquainted with the facts and circumstances relevant to the carrying out of the provisions of this Act or the regulations made under this Act.
(3) An inspector may apply to a Magistrate for a search warrant if the inspector has reasonable cause to believe that evidence of the commission of an offence under this Act or any regulations made under this Act can be found in any premises; and the Magistrate may, if satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for doing so, issue the warrant.
(4) A search warrant issued under subsection (3) authorises the inspector to whom it is directed to enter and search the premises referred to in the warrant and to seize any thing found on the premises which the inspector reasonably believes is evidence of the commission of an offence under this Act or any regulations made under this Act.
(5) Any person who —(a)
intentionally offers any resistance to or wilfully delays an inspector in the exercise of any power under subsection (2) or pursuant to a search warrant issued under subsection (3); or
(b)
fails to comply with any requisition or order of an inspector under subsection (2),
shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.
Complaints Committees
37.—(1) The Board may appoint one or more committees, to be called Complaints Committees, to investigate any complaint or information in respect of any of the following matters:(a)
the conviction of a registered nurse, enrolled nurse, registered midwife or Advanced Practice Nurse of an offence which renders him or her unfit to remain on the Register or Roll or to practise as an Advanced Practice Nurse;
(b)
any misconduct, or negligence, of a registered nurse, enrolled nurse, registered midwife or Advanced Practice Nurse which renders him or her unfit to remain on the Register or Roll or to practise as an Advanced Practice Nurse;
(c)
the physical or mental fitness of a registered nurse, enrolled nurse, registered midwife or Advanced Practice Nurse to perform his or her functions.
(2) A Complaints Committee must comprise such number of members as the Board may determine, and the members may include members of the Board.
(3) The Board must appoint a member of a Complaints Committee as the Chairperson of the Complaints Committee.
(4) The Board may at any time revoke the appointment of any Complaints Committee or remove any member of a Complaints Committee or fill any vacancy in the Complaints Committee.
(5) Subject to any regulations made under section 44, a Complaints Committee has the power to regulate its own procedure.
(6) A Complaints Committee must, within 3 months from the date a complaint or matter is referred to it or such further period as the Board may grant, complete its investigation on the complaint or matter and report its findings and recommendation to the Board.
(7) A member of the Board who is a member of a Complaints Committee investigating any complaint or matter against a registered nurse, enrolled nurse, registered midwife or Advanced Practice Nurse must not take part in any deliberations of the Board under section 19.
Powers of Complaints Committees to require attendance of witnesses, etc.
38.—(1) For the purposes of its investigation, a Complaints Committee may —(a)
require any person to produce any book, document, paper or other record which may be related to the subject matter of the investigation; and
(b)
require any person to attend at a specified time and place and give evidence or produce any such book, document, paper or record.
(2) Any person who without lawful excuse —(a)
refuses or fails to comply with any requirement of the Complaints Committee under subsection (1); or
(b)
refuses to answer or gives a false answer to any question put to the person by a member of the Complaints Committee,
shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000.
Legal assessor and medical assessor
39.—(1) For the purposes of advising the Board and the Complaints Committees in any proceedings before any of them, the Board may appoint a legal assessor who must be an advocate and solicitor of not less than 10 years’ standing.
(2) The legal assessor must not participate or sit in any deliberations of the Board or a Complaints Committee unless invited to do so, and the legal assessor’s participation must be limited only to questions of law arising from the proceedings.
(3) The Board may appoint a medical assessor to assist the Board and the Complaints Committees in proceedings before any of them.
(4) The Board may pay to the legal assessor and medical assessor, as part of the expenses of the Board, such remuneration as the Board may determine.
Service of documents
40.—(1) A document that is permitted or required by or under this Act to be served on a person may be served as described in this section.
(2) A document permitted or required by or under this Act to be served on an individual may be served —(a)
by giving it to the individual personally;
(b)
by sending it by prepaid registered post to the address specified by the individual for the service of documents generally, or specifically for the document, or (if no address is so specified) the individual’s residential address or business address;
(c)
by leaving it at the individual’s residential address with an adult apparently resident there, or at the individual’s business address with an adult apparently employed there;
(d)
by affixing a copy of the document in a conspicuous place at the individual’s residential address or business address; or
(e)
by sending it by email to the individual’s last email address.
(3) A document permitted or required by or under this Act to be served on a partnership (other than a limited liability partnership) may be served —(a)
by giving it to any partner or other similar officer, or an authorised representative, of the partnership;
(b)
by leaving it at, or by sending it by prepaid registered post to, the partnership’s business address; or
(c)
by sending it by email to the partnership’s last email address.
(4) A document permitted or required by or under this Act to be served on a body corporate (including a limited liability partnership) or an unincorporated association may be served —(a)
by giving it to the secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or unincorporated association, or the limited liability partnership’s manager;
(b)
by leaving it at, or by sending it by prepaid registered post to, the registered office or principal office in Singapore of the body corporate or unincorporated association; or
(c)
by sending it by email to the last email address of the body corporate or unincorporated association.
(5) Service of a document under this section takes effect —(a)
if the document is sent by prepaid registered post, 2 days after the day the document was posted (even if it is returned undelivered); or
(b)
if the document is sent by email, at the time that the email becomes capable of being retrieved by the person to whom it is sent.
(6) However, service of any document under this Act on a person by email may be effected only with the person’s prior written consent to service in that way.
(7) This section does not apply to documents to be served in proceedings in court.
(8) In this section —“authorised representative”, in relation to a partnership (other than a limited liability partnership), means any person authorised to accept service of documents on behalf of the partnership;
“business address” means —(a)
in the case of an individual, the individual’s usual or last known place of business in Singapore; or
(b)
in the case of a partnership (other than a limited liability partnership), the partnership’s principal or last known place of business in Singapore;
“document” includes an order or a notice permitted or required by or under this Act to be served;
“last email address” means the last email address given by the addressee concerned to the person giving or serving the document as the email address for the service of documents under this Act;
“residential address” means an individual’s usual or last known place of residence in Singapore.[Act 19 of 2025 wef 05/12/2025]
Where Board member is in public service
41. A member of the Board is not disqualified from being a member of a Complaints Committee, or from taking part in the deliberations of the Board for the purposes of taking action under section 19, by reason only that the member, or the person who made the complaint or gave the information leading to the proceeding in question, is in the public service.
Funds of Board
42.—(1) All fees and other moneys payable under this Act or any regulations made under this Act must be paid to the Board and any fee or other moneys not paid may be recovered by the Board as a debt due to the Board.
(2) Subject to subsection (2A) and section 43A(4), all moneys received by the Board or the Registrar must be paid into the funds of the Board.[Act 19 of 2025 wef 05/12/2025]
(2A) All penalties collected or recovered under this Act or any regulations made under this Act must be paid into the Consolidated Fund.[Act 19 of 2025 wef 05/12/2025]
(3) The costs and expenses of and incidental to the performance of the functions of the Board, a Complaints Committee and any committee appointed under section 10 must be paid by the Board out of its funds.
(4) The Minister may pay into the funds of the Board such sum of money out of moneys provided by Parliament as the Minister may determine.
(5) The Board may invest its funds in accordance with the standard investment power of statutory bodies as defined in section 33A of the Interpretation Act 1965.
No action against Board in absence of bad faith
43. No action or proceeding shall lie against the Board, any committee appointed by the Board, a Complaints Committee, or any member or employee of the Board, committee or Complaints Committee for any act or thing done under this Act unless it is proved that the act or thing was done in bad faith or with malice.
Composition of offences
43A.—(1) The Board may compound any offence under this Act that is prescribed as a compoundable offence by collecting from a person reasonably suspected of having committed the offence a sum not exceeding the lower of the following:(a)
one half of the amount of the maximum fine that is prescribed for the offence;
(b)
$1,000.
(2) On payment of the sum of money, no further proceedings are to be taken against that person in respect of the offence.
(3) The Board may, with the approval of the Minister, make regulations to prescribe the offences that may be compounded.
(4) All sums collected under this section must be paid into the Consolidated Fund.[Act 19 of 2025 wef 05/12/2025]
Power of Board to make regulations
44.—(1) The Board may, with the approval of the Minister, make such regulations as may be necessary or expedient to give effect to the provisions and purposes of this Act and for the due administration of this Act.
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), such regulations may —(a)
provide for the duties of the Registrar;
(b)
provide for the forms of the Register and Roll and the mode in which they must be kept;
(c)
regulate the alteration or correction of the Register and Roll;
(d)
regulate the renewal of temporary registration or enrolment under section 16(3);
(e)
regulate the grant and renewal of practising certificates, including prescribing conditions for such grant and renewal;
(f)
regulate the procedure by which the Board takes action under section 19;
(g)
regulate the procedure of any committee appointed by the Board or of a Complaints Committee;
(h)
regulate the cancellation of registrations and enrolments, and the restoration of registrations and enrolments which are cancelled;
(i)
provide for matters relating to the accreditation of courses in nursing and in midwifery and of institutions providing such courses;
(j)
regulate the practice and conduct of registered nurses, enrolled nurses and registered midwives, including the use of titles and qualifications;
(k)
prescribe the forms and fees for the purposes of this Act;
(l)
provide that any person who contravenes any regulation shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000; and
(m)
prescribe such other matters as are necessary or authorised to be prescribed under this Act.
Source: Singapore Statutes Online (Attorney-General's Chambers), © Government of Singapore.
