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Deepa’s story is hardly unique – estimates suggest that thousands of qualified nurses in Britain are barred from practicing because they cannot pass an English test which they say even some native speakers would fail.
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A former National Health Service (NHS) hospital chairman described the situation as “barking madness”, adding that he was a victim of racism.
Nurses – mostly from Asian and African countries – say their skills are being wasted at a time when Britain’s cracking NHS is battling massive staff shortages and high burn-out rates, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Next month, Britain’s nurses will go on unprecedented strike over pay and “unsafe staffing levels”.
Agimol Pradeep, a senior nurse who has led calls to reform the language assessment system, said anecdotal evidence suggests 8,000 nurses are in Deepa’s situation. Many are trapped in low-skill, low-paying jobs in hospitals and care homes.
“Some have failed more than 15 times, but they speak perfectly good English and communicate confidently and clearly with patients and colleagues,” Pradeep told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“Many people, particularly those with intensive care experience, told me they were very frustrated they could not use their skills during the pandemic when the NHS was under enormous strain.”
Pradeep said some senior NHS staff – frustrated by the nurses’ situation – had tried the test themselves and failed, despite being native English speakers.
Patient safety
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), the profession’s regulatory body, requires foreign-trained nurses to sit a language test before registering in Britain, unless they have worked or trained in a “majority English-speaking country”.
He says a high standard of English is crucial for “safe, compassionate and effective” patient care.
But some nurses said the exam setting was artificial and the pass marks too high. Others in countries where English is widely spoken questioned why they needed to take the test when their training was in English.
Deepa, 41, a nursing assistant at a hospital in southern England, said it made no sense for the NHS to spend huge sums recruiting new nurses from abroad when it already had a large pool of experienced nurses it was not using.
“They are shouting for nurses, but we are already here. It is very frustrating,” said Deepa, who asked not to use her full name. “My colleagues know that I am fully qualified. They all want me to use my skills.”
But things can be about seeing. Following a public consultation this year, the NMC has announced some changes, which it estimates will allow up to 3,000 more nursing and midwifery professionals to register annually.
The move comes amid a rapid increase in the recruitment of foreign nurses to plug gaps in Britain’s health service. There are around 47,000 vacancies in England alone.
In the year to March 2022, almost half of the 48,436 nurses registering with the NMC were trained overseas, up from around one in seven four years ago. About two-thirds come from India and the Philippines, and thousands come from African countries.
NMC accepts two international language tests – IELTS and OET – both of which score applicants in reading, writing, speaking and listening. Although the examinations are external, the NMC determines the pass grade.
From next year, it is introducing reforms to the resit process for those who simply fail.
In certain circumstances, it will also accept the employer’s testimony about the applicant’s language abilities if they have worked in a health or social care role in Britain for at least one year, and have either received their training in English or failed the exam slightly.
However, the NMC rejected calls during the consultation to lower the pass marks, but said this would be kept under review.
“Of all the health and care professionals, nurses and midwives spend the most time with patients… so it is essential that everyone joining our register has strong English language skills,” said NMC strategy director Matthew McClelland.
Financial burden
While some nurses sit the test in Britain, many have to take the test in their home countries before they can get a work visa.
Last year Kenyan media reported that 97% of nurses who applied for jobs with the NHS failed the language test.
The Zimbabwe Midwives and Nurses Association in Britain said it was particularly concerned about the cost of the tests, which exceed the monthly salary of many nurses in poor countries and put them at risk of going into debt.
A Zimbabwean nurse with two decades’ experience, who now works in an NHS surgical ward, said she spent about $2,000 to take the test four times – about 10 months’ salary.
The 42-year-old woman said she had to set up a side business and borrowed money for exam fees, exam coaching and the long journey to the exam centre.
She suggested that nurses should retake only the sections they fail, not the entire exam, reducing resit costs accordingly.
“The system is very unfair,” she said. “People really struggle to raise money.”
Some nurses questioned whether a classroom test was the best way to assess practical communication skills in a clinical setting.
Lubos Tranta, 43, a British citizen who recently trained as a nurse in his native Czech Republic, said the system was too rigid.
Tranta, who has dyslexia, failed twice despite being a fluent English speaker who spent years in Britain, holds a British university degree and is married to an American.
“They need to be more flexible,” he said. “The NHS is wasting the skills of talented nurses.”
Originally published at: https://www.context.news/socioeconomic-inclusion/english-language-test-dashes-nurses-hopes-of-filling-uk-jobs (Reporting by Emma Batha; Editing by Helen Popper. The Thomson Reuters Foundation is the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters.Visit https://www.context.news/
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