Should English tests for foreign nurses be easier?

I READ with incredulity that English tests for foreign nurses are to be made easier in order to help NHS hospitals recruit from the EU and elsewhere in the world. Will this not result in the level of care being allowed to decline, bearing in mind that written and verbal communication skills play vital roles in nursing? I find it ironic that, on the one hand, we think it proper to have foreign nurses with low or average level of English language working in our hospitals, yet at the same time we require British nurses to hold degree qualifications to do the same job.

SHAFICK EMMAMBOKUS, Cranford, Middlesex.

I AM so glad that English tests for foreign nurses are to be made easier. I have had three overseas nurses — from China, Pakistan and India — staying with me who have tried unsuccessfully to pass these tests, time and again. All were working at a local nursing home. They had studied in English-speaking universities and their command of spoken English appeared faultless to me. However, the difficulty of the test, which even I, as a teacher, found extremely hard, meant they were not able to progress further. The capable, gentle and kind Indian nurse had to return home. We cannot afford to lose dedicated and able nurses.

SALLY PICKTHALL, Arundel, W. Sussex.