Language tests blamed for drop in EU nurses

TOUGH new language tests have been blamed for the sharp drop in EU nurses arriving to work in the UK.

The Mail revealed yesterday how the number of European nurses registering had fallen by 96 per cent in the past nine months.

Nursing leaders warned the shortfall would have severe consequences for patients as the NHS is so dependent on staff from the Continent.

The number registering fell from 1,306 in July 2016 to just 46 in April.

Recruitment firms are blaming language tests introduced by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) early last year although MPs and academics have also blamed the uncertainty over Brexit.

The language tests have four components – speaking, listening, reading and writing – and nurses must score seven out of nine in each one.

One section from a sample reading exam tells candidates to read a scientific article on ‘chromobiology’ – the natural rhythm of living organisms – and answer 13 questions to check they had understood.

A section from the writing exam asks them to write a short article on the growth of computer ownership in the past decade, which must be grammatically perfect.

The test costs £150 to sit and many nurses will have to spend hundreds of pounds on language lessons to reach the required grade. If they fail to score at least seven out of nine in just one of the components, they have to pay to sit the whole threehour exam again. The majority of EU nurses come from recession-hit Spain, Portugal and Greece and struggle to afford the bills.

Recruitment firms yesterday accused the NMC of ‘setting the bar too high’ and described the tests as inappropriate.

Barry Pactor, group managing director at TTM Healthcare, warned of the drop in applicants 18 months ago when the tests first came in.

‘The bar has been set too high,’ he told Recruiter, a trade magazine. ‘The amount of time it takes, the cost and the desire to stick with it for that length of time just isn’t there for European nurses – particularly with the uncertainty around Brexit and the NHS.’

‘It’s a massive own goal for the authorities. I understand why the NMC want to set it at a high level. I just think they set it too high.’

Claire Billenness, director at HCL Workforce, another recruitment firm said: ‘We firmly believe that this is not necessarily a Brexit issue. This is related to the introduction of the English language test.

While we support the initiative that EU nationals shouldn’t be any different from overseas nationals, we question whether the academic test is appropriate.’

The test was introduced by the NMC amid concerns that European nurses were putting patients at risk because of their poor English. Prior to 2016, any nurse from the EU could register without proving they had a good command of the language.

The tests were introduced in stages between January and July 2016, which is when the number of EU nurse applicants began to fall.

The Department of Health says 52,000 nurses are being trained.