04.11.14
Foreign healthcare workers to face language checks
Nurses, midwives, pharmacists and dentists coming to Britain from the EU to work may have to prove their ability to speak English fluently under new plans being put out to consultation.
Health minister Dr Dan Poulter said the move follows concerns patients have suffered poor care from staff who were unable to communicate with them. The new proposals mean that for the first time regulators will be allowed to insist on language tests for any nurse, midwife, pharmacist or dentist applying to work in this country.
Currently language checks can only be administered to those from countries outside the EU.
The disparity existed due to Britain’s interpretation of EU freedom of labour laws, which viewed such tests as illegal. However new guidance clarifying EU law says any healthcare professional who wishes to work in the UK will in future have to have ‘the necessary knowledge of English’ to communicate with patients.
Language checks for doctors have already been introduced.
The risk of a healthcare professional not being fluent in English was highlighted by a lethal mistake made by Dr Daniel Ubani, a German doctor doing an out-of-hours shift who gave a lethal dose of a painkiller to patient David Gray in 2008.
At the time, as a German citizen, he was able to register to work in the UK without passing a language test.
Health minister Dr Poulter said: "We greatly value the contributions that healthcare professionals from all over the world have contributed, and continue to contribute, to our NHS but it is essential that they have a sufficient knowledge of the English language in order to provide safe patient care.
"Ministers from the four UK health departments are firmly committed to improving public protection by preventing healthcare professionals who do not have sufficient knowledge of English from working in the UK."
Tests will not be automatically administered to all new healthcare workers, but regulators will be able to carry out tests on any applicant who does not supply evidence that they can speak English to the acceptable standard.
Last week figures obtained by the Royal College of Nursing from FOI requests to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) showed that for the first time since 2006 Britain imported more nurses than it exported.
In 2013-14 there were 6,228 nursing registrations from abroad, 22% of the total number of new nurses qualified to work and an increase of nearly 45% on the previous year. In the same year 4,379 nurses left the UK to work overseas.
Dr Peter Carter, chief executive and general secretary of RCN said: “Nurses need to be able to communicate properly with the patients they care for. It’s essential to have a system of checks in place so patients and their families can be assured that nursing staff all have good English language skills. This means robust regulation of the profession and rigorous language assessments by health organisations.
“The NHS depends on the contribution of nurses who come here from all over the world to care for patients. The vast majority speak excellent English, but it’s still crucial to have strict safeguards in place and to continually check that all health professionals have the language skills needed to provide high quality care.”
The consultation will close on 15 December 2014.
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