About 6000 nurses and midwives in Western Australia are being urged to renew their registration – on time and online.

The state’s nurses and midwives must renew their registration under the national scheme before the December 31 deadline.

WA nurses will have to renew their registration again in May 2012, to fall into line with the new national date of May 31.

Nurses who fail to renew their registration before the deadline will receive a late payment fee on top of their renewal fee, effective from October 1, 2011, which will affect nurses and midwives applying to renew during the one month late period.

Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia Chair Anne Copeland said there were significant consequences for nurses and midwives who fail to renew on time under the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency’s national scheme.

Under national law, nurses and midwives who do not renew their registration within one month of their registration expiry date must be removed from the National Register for Nurses and Midwives and will not be able to practise in Australia.

The WA renewal comes after the first ever release of comprehensive data on the nation’s health practitioners was detailed in the 2010-11 annual AHPRA and National Boards’ annual report.

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia report reveals there were 332,185 nurses and midwives registered to practise in Australia on June 30 this year, with nursing and midwifery representing 63 per cent of the total group of registered health practitioners.

There were also 1466 nursing and midwifery practitioners in Australia with an endorsement on registration in 2010-2011, including 624 nurse practitioners, 744 endorsed for scheduled medicines, one midwife practitioner and 97 eligible midwives.