EU madness

[Gob]

Thousands of foreign nurses will be allowed to work in Britain without any safety checks – because EU rules demand that the tests are axed.

They will not need to sit rigorous competence exams before treating NHS patients. And they will no longer even be required to show they have looked after patients in the past three years.

Critics say the change will 'almost certainly' lead to lives being lost. The Nursing and Midwifery Council will stop administering the tests in the autumn after being told it could be sued by the European Commission for breaking EU law on 'freedom of movement' for workers from the Continent.

The test will still apply to non EU applicants. Under the current system, 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.

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.

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.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0tQPj5yKZ

[Lord Jim]

Well there are several things that strike me about this:

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.

Well if anything, that seems to me to be an extremely generous standard. Just doing the math in my head, based on a 40 hr week, 450 hrs. works out to about 11.25 weeks worth of nursing experience... over a three year period...and there are 156 weeks in three years...

And this qualifies the person, without regard to which EU country they received their education and accreditation in, or which country they worked in....

The test will still apply to non EU applicants. Under the current system, 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.

That confuses me. Surely there isn't a single test to qualify in all those different categories. I'm no expert in this area, (I'm sure @W could shed some useful light here) but common sense would seem to indicate that there are some more specialized areas of proficiency that one would need to meet to provide nursing assistance in a surgical environment as opposed to what would be required in a nursing home environment....

On top of that, in the US, we have different classifications for nurses requiring different degrees of proficiency...(RN versus LN, for example) is that not also the case in Europe?

[Gob]

I think the test would be to get into entry level nursing Jim.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nursing_in ... ered_staff

[loCAtek]

I'm seeing more 'Angels of Mercy' in the UK...

[Lord Jim]

Okay, so these are folks who are basically just fresh out of nursing school?

In that case this confuses me:

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

Does that mean that there were 40,000 applicants who were fresh out of nursing school and thus did not meet the "11.25 weeks of nursing experience in your home country over the past 156 weeks" requirement, so they had to take the test?

The way the article is written sure gives that impression. That sure seems like a lot of new nursing school graduates to be applying to work in Britain from other EU countries in that time period...

Or were some significant percentage of those "40,000 nurses" people who qualified because they had the necessary experience, and therefore didn't have to take the test. (That would, on it's face, seem more logical)

I have to say, this isn't a very well written article....

[Gob]

But just 270 completed the course, deterred by its cost and difficulty.

It would appear so Jim, that these 40,000, were recent graduates who wanted the better pay and conditions offered in the UK. (Rather than say, Slovakia), but couldn't get the cash up front to do the training/test, or their English may not have been up to scratch to sit it..

[Lord Jim]

Well if that's the case, then it would seem to me the logical thing would be for the British to follow the French and German example...(maybe they haven't because they're just happy to have any immigrants that aren't wearing burkas or turbans... )

[@meric@nwom@n]

Not all nursing programs are created equally just as Medical schools aren't. (Think Harvard vs. Grenada)

[dales]

Thank God for RONALD REAGAN rescuing those unfortunate med students during our foray into Greneda...