EU oddity, perhaps more Private Eye than PH

[Scrumper]

I saw a friend yesterday who moved to Australia nearly ten years ago. Since she moved there she's trained as a nurse and is now one of a very limited number of highly trained, specialist heart/lung transplant theatre nurses. She's basically at the top of her profession now and needless to say I'm very pleased to have such a high flying friend.

Now she wants to move back to the UK (she's English), for various reasons, and although the nursing profession is different over here she's keen to be a theatre nurse in the NHS and do as similar work as she can over here. Before she can move back, though, the NHS require her to take an English test! After a four month wait for a test slot she sat a six hour exam and, of course, passed perfectly. Bit of a faff but I can see why the NHS would only want nurses who can understand and speak good English working for them, and rules are rules.

However, and this is the kicker, EU rules state that if you trained in an EU country (and certain other European but non-EU nations, such as Albania) you are exempt from the language test altogether!

The end result is that an British-born, UK citizen who trained in an English speaking country has to take a six hour exam, but a Romanian nurse with a poor command of English can start working straight away.

[RichardD]

This story should be told to some national newspapers!

[nonplussed]

If that is true it's hilarious in a tragic way. Send it to Private Eye, they'll love it.

[Rude-boy]

And you post as if this surprises you

EU law is riddled with inconsistencies and idiocies.

It's what happens when you try to make one size fits all legislation to cover a continent.

[Bluebarge]

It's not the EU requiring the English test, it's the NHS. The EU is trying to dismantle barriers put up by local professions to prevent competition by other EU citizens. The NHS can still decide whether to take a foreign nurse on a range of skills including the rather important ability to communicate. They can discover this by interview or a technical exam in English required to be passed by all applicants. They cannot set "special tests" for foreigners which are not required for their own citizens.

The real story here is, why is the NHS wasting public money setting an English exam for a native English speaker? But then, "NHS wastes lots of money" is not really news, is it?

[Engineer1]

I'm glad someone is checking the language skills of foreign nurses, now extend that to all foreign nurses and it would really make sense, was the test simply on English or Medical English? as I wouldn't be supprised if bits of kit, procedures etc have different names in foreign english speaking countries.

[Bill Carr]

nonplussed said:

If that is true it's hilarious in a tragic way. Send it to Private Eye, they'll love it.

Yeah, do it - definite Eye material.

[RemaL]

RichardD said:

This story should be told to some national newspapers!

can't agree more

[Jasandjules]

Engineer1 said:

I'm glad someone is checking the language skills of foreign nurses, now extend that to all foreign nurses and it would really make sense, was the test simply on English or Medical English? as I wouldn't be supprised if bits of kit, procedures etc have different names in foreign english speaking countries.

Hmm, but surely the kicker is that if they came from an EU country where English was not the first language, then this test would not apply? (If my understanding is correct).

[Scrumper]

Thought you lot would like it. Letter to Eye being written.

Engineer1 & Jasandjules: Jasandjules is right. The test doesn't apply to EU nationals at all, regardless of country of origin.

[bigandclever]

Good stuff, and it does sound unfair (although Private Eye tends to deal with current affairs and this disparity has been the case for years and years). Take a look at this flowchart and ask your mate why she couldn't provide the alternative evidence so she wouldn't have had to sit the exam...

[Dogwatch]

Christopher Booker in the Sunday Telegraph has been banging on about this and similar EU nonsenses for years.

Can't see what a six-hour exam is going to find out that a one-hour or even an oral exam couldn't.

[Scrumper]

bigandclever said:

Good stuff, and it does sound unfair (although Private Eye tends to deal with current affairs and this disparity has been the case for years and years). Take a look at this flowchart and ask your mate why she couldn't provide the alternative evidence so she wouldn't have had to sit the exam...

Thanks for this. You are disturbingly well informed. I suspect that she wasn't required to take an English exam to register in Australia, so the flowchart follows the path straight down the left to the test. Will ask next time I talk to her.

[Puggit]

Dogwatch said:

Can't see what a six-hour exam is going to find out that a one-hour or even an oral exam couldn't.

Does she have to wear her nurses outfit during the oral?

[FPC]

Scrumper said:

bigandclever said:

Good stuff, and it does sound unfair (although Private Eye tends to deal with current affairs and this disparity has been the case for years and years). Take a look at this flowchart and ask your mate why she couldn't provide the alternative evidence so she wouldn't have had to sit the exam...

Thanks for this. You are disturbingly well informed. I suspect that she wasn't required to take an English exam to register in Australia, so the flowchart follows the path straight down the left to the test. Will ask next time I talk to her.

But wouldn't her qualification have been from a university where the language was English and her practise have been in English so that she could provide the alternative evidence?

[FPC]

Also:

NHS website said:

Nurses from the EU looking to take up fixed term placements in the National Health Service (NHS) will need to become registered with the Nurses and Midwifery Council (NMC), and demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the English language to practice professionally in a clinical setting