By Richard AlleynePublished: 6:00PM BST 22 Aug 2010
Thousands of foreign nurses are now allowed to start work in Britain without safety checks because the tests could be deemed discriminatory under European Union law. Up until now the Nursing and Midwifery Council - which controls who can be employed here – has insisted that new recruits must have worked at least 450 hours in the last three years or go on a refresher course.
Thousands of foreign nurses are now allowed to start work in Britain without safety checks because the tests could be deemed discriminatory under European Union law. Up until now the Nursing and Midwifery Council - which controls who can be employed here – has insisted that new recruits must have worked at least 450 hours in the last three years or go on a refresher course.
But now all they will need is a diploma from their country showing they are qualified. The Nursing and Midwifery Council has stopped administering the tests after being told it could be sued by the European Commission for breaking EU law on "freedom of movement" for workers from the Continent.
It has raised alarm bells and parliament has launched an investigation. "While freedom of movement within the EU in broad general terms is very positive, in this particular instance it is not so positive," said the Council chief executive Professor Dickon Weir-Hughes.
Under the system which still applies to British nurses and those from outside the EU, nurses from EU states wanting to work in hospitals, surgeries or care homes in Britain have to prove their clinical skills are up to standard and date. Either they have to show they have carried out a minimum of 450 hours' nursing in their own country in the past three years or they must attend an intensive three-month course with regular tests on their knowledge and skills.
In the past five years more than 40,000 nurses from the European Union – including former Soviet Bloc countries such as Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia – applied to work in Britain. But just 270 completed the course, deterred by its cost and difficulty.
Now the Nursing and Midwifery Council, which regulates nurses, has been forced to scrap both requirements because they are deemed to be "discriminatory" towards workers from EU member states. At a meeting in July, they reluctantly agreed to drop the requirements.
Although other EU countries are in theory bound by the same rules, major Western countries including France and Germany opted out of regulations which opened their borders to most Eastern European immigrants.
Although other EU countries are in theory bound by the same rules, major Western countries including France and Germany opted out of regulations which opened their borders to most Eastern European immigrants.
The changes will make the system almost identical to that in place for GPs coming from European countries, which allows them to cover out- of-hours shifts without tests on their skills or language abilities.
The lack of regulation was exposed two years ago when retired engineer David Gray died at the hands of exhausted German locum Daniel Ubani, who gave him ten times the normal dose of diamorphine. (Rods Note: Despite being personally responsible for the death of his patient, Dr Ubani is still practising medicine in Germany and has refused to come back to England for a full investigation).
Thousands of nurses are likely to take advantage of the rule change to work in the NHS or for agencies. Already around 2,000 nurses and midwives from EU try to come to Britain to work every year. The House of Commons' Health Committee plans to investigate.
Stephen Dorrell, the chairman, said: "A lot of MPs and the public will not be happy with the situation where people who are not adequately trained and who can't speak English to a certain standard can work in our NHS."
Dr Peter Carter, Chief Executive and General Secretary of the RCN, said: "Patients need to know that the people looking after them have up to date skills and are suitably trained and experienced. "Therefore the balance between freedom of movement and patient safety must be maintained. Both regulators and employers need the right powers to ensure that nurses are clinically up to date and competent."
Rods Comments: The most important figure here are that 40,000 nurses mainly from former Eastern Bloc countries applied to come here but only 270 actually made it here. The other important fact to remember is that the British government has removed the requirement for foreign medical staff to pass an English language exam. Soon we may be inundated with 40,000 nurses who can’t speak English, and there will be nothing that we can do about it!
The English Democrats advocate removing our country from the EU, which will remove the ‘right’ of any EU citizen to an automatic right work in England.
Did you vote for the Lib/Lab/Con Party, or did you vote for common sense?
www.englishdemocrats1066.org
www.englishdemocrats1066.org
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