Immigrant nurses cheating required exams

editor@netpath.net · medicine forum beginner Joined: 09 Apr 2005 Posts: 11

Immigrant nurses from the Third World - in Britain, at least - don't
know English. That's because they are being caught after having
falsified passing the required English-proficiency test.
From today's London Telegraph, below:
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Foreign nurses are using falsely obtained English qualifications to
come to Britain to work in the National Health Service, the nurses'
regulatory body said yesterday.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has found that non
English-speaking candidates, primarily from China and Pakistan, are
claiming to have passed the required language exams in their homelands
before emigrating to Britain. It has detected 12 cheats so far, and is
concerned that the fraud is compromising patient safety.
Adrian Daghorn, the NMC's head of registration, said: "We are being
presented with very authentic-looking certificates with seemingly
authentic British Council stamps and photographs of the applicant.
Nurses working here without English skills pose a real threat to
patient safety, because it means they won't be able to read
prescriptions or understand what other medics, or patients in pain or
discomfort, are saying. It is about economic migration.
"Nurses who don't have a high enough standard of English are desperate
to get here, but we are stamping out this fraud through these checks
because it is a serious issue."
The findings come after a survey published on Thursday by the Council
of Deans, the body which represents university nursing courses, found
that an estimated 80 per cent of student nurses due to graduate this
year have been unable to find jobs.
It is unknown how many cheats slipped through the net prior to the NMC
starting its follow-up checks last September through the British
Council, which is responsible for putting would-be nurses from other
countries through the International English Language Testing System.
Some applicants have been discovered arranging for someone with better
English skills to sit the IELTS for them.
Kathy George, the NMC's director of standards, said: "Applicants visit
websites that help them with forgeries. You can do it in many job
areas, such as engineering and science. I don't suppose it is any
different for nursing."
She predicted that the NMC might out-source the facility that checks
for fraudulent applications, and gave warning that the increased cost
of processing job applications from foreign nurses would be passed on
to the applicants.
The NMC is frustrated that, while it can test for English language
skills outside the European Union, it is not allowed to test within the
EU under EU regulations.
It has pledged to lobby more intensively for language testing for
nurses moving between EU member states to improve patient safety.
Jonathan Asbridge, the president of the NMC, told its council meeting
this month: "Under this EU directive a nurse from England can practise
in Greece without a word of Greek, and be deemed safe. I do not think
so."
France has got around the problem by testing all job applicants for
French language skills, including the French, so that the whole
language skills screening process can be deemed to be equitable.
Lawyers have advised the NMC, which is interested in pursuing a similar
practice here, that it does not comply with European regulations.
The NMC is raising its pass mark next year after complaints about the
poor quality of foreign nurses' language skills.
The Royal College of Nursing backed the NMC's stance. Howard Catton,
the RCN's head of policy, said: "Language is such a fundamental skill
if nurses are to deliver high quality patient care, because
communication is at the heart of nursing practice.
"All nurses need to be able to understand phrases like 'I need to spend
a penny', or they can't nurse properly."
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