The Polish midwife who didn’t deliver a single baby
Her poor English meant she struggled to cope
A POLISH woman trained up as a midwife by the NHS did not deliver a single baby after it became clear that she struggled with English.
Barbara Fall, 35, was promoted to a £22,000-a-year post before alarmed colleagues reported she could not follow what they were saying.
She was demoted as a result, only for her to quit in protest.
She took hospital bosses to a tribunal – which was conducted entirely in Polish – but lost and was referred to a disciplinary panel, who suspended her until she improves her English.
The bizarre situation was yesterday branded ‘a colossal waste of taxpayers’ money’ by MPs.
Mrs Fall started work at Burnley General Teaching Hospital in 2016 after being recruited at a jobs fair and was employed as a maternity support worker on Band 3 wages of £18,000 a year.
The following January she started a supervised role as a Band 5 midwife with her pay increased to £22,000.
By October she had been demoted back to a Band 3 role due to ‘ performance issues’. She resigned the following month.
A hospital source said: ‘People were immediately concerned about her capacity to speak English. It became obvious to her colleagues – she would not answer the phone and things like that.
‘She never delivered any children. She started a midwife preceptorship (transition) programme but was seen as incapable.’
Mrs Fall lost her claim for constructive dismissal and was reported to the Nursing and Midwifery Council.
When she registered to work in the UK, the International English Language Testing System Test for nurses was not required for EU nationals. She finally sat it in January this year, and her understanding of English was rated only four out of ten.
She scored five in reading and writing and had an overall score of 5.5. The minimum required is seven, which she achieved only in the spoken English part of the test, a disciplinary panel was told.
Chris Pearson, director of nursing at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, pointed out that Mrs Fall never worked unsupervised as a midwife.
He added: ‘ She carried out the role of a support worker while she sought to improve her English.’
Philip Davies, Conservative MP for Shipley, said: ‘It is a complete farce. The fact the tribunal hearing had to be conducted in Polish says everything about the case.
‘It has been a colossal waste of taxpayers’ money and shows how crucial it is to have a robust English language test. Anyone who cannot pass it should not be working in the NHS.’
Fellow Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said: ‘The lesson to learn is that people working in the NHS should pass the English test before we start investing in further training.
‘It has been a complete waste of public money all the way along, including the tribunal. Translators are not cheap. This could all have been avoided.’
The Royal College of Midwives says the NHS is short of 3,500 midwives, leading some maternity units to temporarily close.
English language tests for nurses were relaxed earlier this year after fears that too many new arrivals were failing, leading to a drop in recruitment and fears of an NHS staffing crisis.
One in every eight NHS staff is foreign, with 36 per cent of doctors having gained their medical qualification outside the UK.