500 signatures reached
To: General Medical Council, General Dental Council, General Pharmaceutical Council and Science Council, Nursing and Midwifery Council
Medical Professionals in the UK Seeking Registration
To return to the more realistic and appropriate English language requirements previously set for doctors and nurses from overseas so they can practice in the NHS which badly needs their expertise and skills.
To return to previous English language testing scores for dentists, pharmacists and technicians, and for the councils registering those groups to introduce the Occupational English Test (OET) to cover medical contexts rather than topics which have nothing to do with their professions.
Why is this important?
Medical Professionals in the UK Seeking Registration is a campaign group being launched through RAPAR of around 500 medical professionals - doctors, nurses, technicians, pharmacists and dentists - who are being prevented from working in the NHS because of the unreasonably high English language testing requirements currently set by the professional bodies responsible for registering them. This problem also affects many more medical professionals who are not yet members of the campaign group.
The campaign is calling on the GMC and other bodies to return to more realistic and appropriate English language requirements. Doctors who passed the previous language test standards are currently working successfully in the NHS. But now highly qualified doctors – many of whom have been forced to flee their home countries for humanitarian reasons – are being stopped from using their skills and expertise.
Four years ago, the GMC raised its already high score for doctors in the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) even further. The exam tests general knowledge of English language and includes topics such as archaeology, jam making and current affairs – much of it irrelevant to the kind of terminology used by medical professionals.
Dentists, pharmacists and technicians have also had their English language testing scores raised and want a return to the previous levels. In addition, they are asking the councils responsible for registering them to introduce the Occupational English Test (OET) which will cover medical contexts rather than topics that have nothing to do with their professions.
Patients are in urgent need of these medical professionals - they should be given the opportunity to use their knowledge, proficiency and dedication to work in our struggling NHS.
