Monday 21 February 2011

EU putting lives at risk with new nurse training rules

New EU rules means that foreign nurses will be able to work in UK hospitals regardless of their grasp of the English language after just 2 days of basic training involving role play and multi-choice questionnaires.

The rules at the moment say that any nurse from an EU member state who is considered to be inadequately trained can be required to complete up to 6 months additional training and pass exams.  Only a quarter of nurses finish it but under the new rules most of them will.

Nurses from outside of the EU will still have to go through the tests and exams that they currently do, it's only under-qualified EU nurses that will be allowed to bypass the safety checks that have been put in place to protect lives.