Vote at EGM to determine ICN membership

Published: 27 March 2013

Royal College of Nursing members will decide whether to authorise RCN Council to withdraw the organisation from membership of the International Council of Nurses (ICN) at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held during Congress week (21 – 25 April) in Liverpool.

The RCN has been in discussion with the ICN, a federation of 130 membership organisations, for the past six years about the level of fees paid. Along with other member associations, the College is also keen to ensure that the ICN is able to meet the global health challenges facing nursing now and in the future.

“Fees have been rising because of exchange rate fluctuations and because the ICN calculates fees on the number of nurse members in the representative organisation of each country,” said RCN Chair of Council Professor Kath McCourt.

“This means our fees represent 16 per cent of the overall ICN subscription income, which equates to more than half a million pounds annually. We believe this is unsustainable.”

Discussions with the ICN will conclude at a meeting of their Council of Representatives in May,which is why the EGM is so timely.

There has been limited progress in agreeing a new fees model to date.

“Be reassured that, even if a decision is made to withdraw from membership of the ICN, the RCN is fully committed to continuing to work with international partners on issues of common interest to nursing at home and abroad,” stressed Kath.