British nurse who returned from Australia to work in NHS is told: Take an English test!

• Katherine Broadbent grew up in Cambridge and moved to Australia aged 26
• EU law states nurses qualifying within the union are exempt from test

Katherine Broadbent has to pass English tests to work as a nurse - despite being British

Brought up in Cambridge and boasting a degree in Latin and history, Katherine Broadbent could be forgiven for thinking her ability to speak English would be beyond question.
That was, however, until she tried to get a job with the NHS.
After returning from working as a nurse in Australia, the mother-of-one has been told she must sit a costly series of exams to prove her fluency before she is allowed on UK wards.
Despite being British, because she did her medical training outside of Europe, Mrs Broadbent will have to take an International English Language Test to register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council.
By contrast, thanks to a European ruling in 2006, nurses who qualify in EU countries are exempt from the same tests to work here – even if they can barely speak English.
Mrs Broadbent spent the first 26 years of her life in the UK before moving to Canberra shortly after graduating.
She completed a nursing degree before working in intensive care and cancer wards of a hospital for nine years.
But earlier this year she decided to return home, settling with her husband Robert, 44, and two-year-old daughter Elke near the Cotswold town of Lechlade.
After being told she must pay £125 to sit the day-long IELT exam – which tests English reading, writing, speaking and listening – Mrs Broadbent, 40, wrote to the Department of Health and the NMC to appeal.
Their response was that there can be ‘no individual dispensations’.
She said: ‘There’s been a real lack of common sense and that has been really frustrating.
‘We lived for a long time in Australia and the systems over there were much simpler.
‘I would understand if I did my training in a non English-speaking country, but to include Australia is ridiculous.
‘We decided to come back to the UK before our daughter was at school age to decide where we wanted to live.

 

'I thought it would be really simple to start working as a nurse and was looking forward to starting in a hospital.
‘The process has been quite long and I thought there would be someone who would understand that I’m British and already have another degree from this country. All I received though was letters saying there could not be exceptions.
‘The test is quite expensive and was around £500 if I sat it in Australia.’

Untested: Due to EU regulations, candidates from countries within the union are exempt from the test

Royal College of Nursing General Secretary Dr Peter Carter said: ‘It is reasonable that communications skills are tested but, regardless of their background, nurses should not be discouraged by the cost of language testing.’
The bizarre situation comes after the Daily Mail revealed NHS patients were being put in danger after European nurses were resorting to sign language as they could not speak English.
One mistakenly handed out a trifle with nutty toppings to a patient with a nut allergy because they did not understand warnings in his medical notes.
Lord Winston, the world-renowned fertility doctor, expressed concerns last year about Romanian and Bulgarian nurses working in the NHS who had been trained in a ‘completely different way’.

English speakers included: Even nurses from countries which have English as their first language, such as New Zealand, Australia and the US must take at test to register with the Nursing and Midwifery council

The NMC said all nurses from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and the US would have to pass an IELT exam before registering.
A spokesman added: ‘This ensures that all applicants meet the same standard in a system that is equitable, fair and non-discriminatory.’
The Department of Health said the NMC was responsible for ‘rigorous standards’ but would not comment on Mrs Broadbent’s case.