25.02.13
Language testing to be introduced for EU doctors
Foreign doctors will have to prove they have necessary English skills before they are allowed to work on the NHS, ministers have announced.
From April, there will be a legal duty to ensure doctors’ English competence passes a certain level. A national list will be provided to prevent doctors from being rejected in one part of the country and accepted elsewhere.
Ministers are also discussing new powers for the GMC, to test skills of doctors from within the EU as well as for non-EU doctors.
Health minister Dr Dan Poulter said: “These new checks will ensure that all doctors who want to work in the NHS can speak proficient English and to prevent those who can't from treating patients.”
Niall Dickson, chief executive of the GMC, said: “If doctors cannot speak English to a safe standard then the GMC must be able to protect patients by preventing them from practising in the UK.
“At present we can do that for doctors who have qualified outside Europe but we cannot do it for doctors within the European Union.
“We have been working hard for some time to close this loophole in UK legislation which has caused so much concern to patients and their families and we are delighted that the government has decided to act.”
Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: “New language checks for doctors are welcome, and long overdue. Lessons from the past have served to highlight the tragic consequences of poor language skills.”
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