Australia’s 361,000 registered and enrolled nurses, midwives and nurse practitioners will pay $10 less when they renew their registration this year.

Nurses, midwives and nurse practitioners will now pay $150 when they renew their general registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia before May 31.

Online registration renewal for general and non-practising registration opened this week.

Registrants who hold both nursing and midwifery registration will pay the one, reduced registration fee, as will New South Wales’ nurses and midwives, working in the co-regulatory jurisdiction.

The reduced fee is part of the Board’s commitment to maintain fees at a reasonable level for nurses and midwives.

Most of the nation’s 361,711 nurses and midwives, as counted in the National Board’s December 2014 data, are expected to register online.

National Board chair Dr Lynette Cusack said 97 per cent of nurses and midwives renewed their registration online and on time last year, an increase of two per cent from 2013.

“Online renewal is quick and easy and the nursing and midwifery profession has one of the highest user rates of all the health professions in the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme who access this secure service,” she said in a statement.

Dr Cusack urged nurses and midwives to carefully read the Board’s requirements for registration renewal.

“The main aim of the Board is to protect the public and one way it does this is to audit nurses and midwives to ensure compliance with mandatory registration standards.

“Renewing registration is not just ticking boxes so any nurse or midwife who is found to have made a false declaration can expect the Board to take action against their registration.”

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) will begin sending email and hard copy reminders about registration renewal this week.

Nurses, midwives and nurse practitioners who fail to renew their registration before the end of May will have to pay their registration renewal fee plus a late payment fee of $38, for general registration, in the one-month late period.

Failure to renew before the end of June will result in nurses and midwives being removed from the national register, and only able to practise after a new application for registration is successful.

The latest registration data reveals an increase in the number of nurses and midwives compared to the September quarter in 2014, with 59,616 nurses and midwives with general registration, 59,954 enrolled nurses, 259,494 registered nurses, 4724 enrolled and registered nurses, 29,620 enrolled and registered nurses and midwives, and 3336 midwives.

Australia is also home to 1165 nurse practitioners, 928 registered nurses able to supply scheduled medicines in rural and isolated practice, 157 eligible midwives able to supply scheduled medicines, and one midwife practitioner.

Access the frequently asked questions about renewal or for more information phone 1300 419 495.