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Wednesday 17 December 2014

Mail Foreign Nurse Xenophobia

[Update at end of post]

One instinctively knows when the legendarily foul mouthed Paul Dacre is riding one of his hobbyhorses when the Daily Mail refuses to feature the same lead story as the rest of the press pack, choosing instead to push its own agenda. So it is this morning, with most papers leading on the horrific school killings in Peshawar, where at least 130 children were murdered by the Pakistani Taliban.
What's f***ing wrong with kicking the NHS, c***?!? Er, with the greatest of respect, Mr Jay

This, though, was relegated to the inside pages as the Mail decided once again to kick those dastardly foreigners: “4 IN 5 NURSES ON NHS WARDS ARE FOREIGNthundered the headline. And, so what? Who gives the proverbial flying foxtrot what nationality the nurses are? Can they do the job? Are the patients happy about that? Can the NHS carry on as before? What’s Dacre’s beef?

Ah well. All those Daily Mail readers are having the idea fed to them that the new nurses can’t speak English. Or that they can’t speak it very well: “Mail investigation found nurses picked up at recruitment fairs in Portugal struggled to fill out basic forms and needed a translation service ... Legal loophole prevents the Nursing and Midwifery Council checking the English of European nurses before they are registered for NHS work” hint the sub-headings.
The Mail's priority today ...

Yes, they went to Portugal and just “picked up” staff. That means its like all those migrant workers queuing for minibuses somewhere in North London. The inference is that Brits are excluded and some kind of people trafficking operation is going on. It isnt, and, as so often with the Mail, the copy doesnt support the headline.

The influx of foreign nurses “has sparked fears that some nurses will lack the English language skills to do their jobs properly”. One concerned talking head said “We are concerned that poor English skills may lead to mistakes and misunderstandings when patients are trying to explain their problems”. The Mail asserts “there is a suspicion that some turn a blind eye to poor results”.
... versus every other paper's priority

Even when the Mail tells that “An investigation by the Mail last month found that nurses picked up at recruitment fairs in Portugal struggled to fill out basic forms and needed a translation service”, readers don’t get to find out exactly what they “struggled” with. But the Mail at least concedes “The staffing crisis has come about partly because the Government slashed the numbers of training posts”.

What does Dacre expect the NHS to do in order to staff its hospitals properly? And, while the Vagina Monologue is at it, he might also care to explain today’s Daily Mail Comment, “Why illegal migrants can laugh at the law”. There appears to be no article for this editorial to accompany. Is a suggestion of illegality being made here? More like this is a cheap smear of the EU and Britain’s oldest ally, Portugal.

Paul Dacre, of course, doesn’t give a stuff about the NHS. He goes private.

[UPDATE 1845 hours: one commenter to this post has rumbled Paul Dacre and his attempt to frighten Mail readers into thinking nurses may not be able to communicate in English. This is the relevant text.

"Under EU law, the NMC cannot require evidence of your ability to communicate in English for the purposes of registration. However, you need to make sure that you have sufficient knowledge of English in order to practise professionally (article 53 of the directive). Employers will expect this and have the right to require evidence of English language competence to ensure that they employ nurses and midwives who are able to communicate effectively".

So there is no "loophole", as the article asserts, no way for EU law to be used to allow non-English speaking nurses into the NHS, and, sadly for the Vagina Monologue, no story. I'll be notifying the nice people at Hacked Off that there is another potential breach of the Editor's Code right there.

As the late David English once said, "Bang to rights, Mr Dacre"]

4 comments:

Shawlrat said...

Having had very recent experience of NHS surgery, all bar one of the staff who looked after me were immigrants.

Without exception, the care I received was excellent.

Mr Dacre needs to be reminded that, in an emergency, he too will use his local A and E. Will he really complain about being treated by immigrants if they save his life?

Phil said...

Why oh why doesn't the Nursing and Midwifery Council ensure that nurses coming to the UK from overseas can speak decent English?

Oh, wait, they do.

http://www.nmc-uk.org/Documents/Registration/Registering%20as%20a%20nurse%20or%20midwife%20from%20outside%20EU%20or%20EEA.pdf

Applicants must be able to show that they can communicate clearly and effectively in English. They must complete the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) and achieve a minimum score of at least seven in all areas. There are no exceptions to this requirement, even if English is their first language.
We will verify the scores with the IELTS organisation. Please note that we will not accept IELTS test results that are more than two years old at the time the registration application is submitted.

Phil said...

Oops, I got that slightly wrong as that was the guidance for non-EU nurses. This is the guidance for EU nurses.

http://www.nmc-uk.org/Documents/Registration/Registering-as-a-nurse-or-midwife-in-the-UK-EU-January-2011.pdf

Under EU law, the NMC cannot require evidence of your ability to communicate in English for the purposes of registration. However, you need to make sure that you have
sufficient knowledge of English in order to practise professionally (article 53 of the directive). Employers will expect this and have the right to require evidence of English language competence to ensure that they employ nurses and midwives who are able to communicate effectively. Therefore it is possible that any offer of employment in the UK may depend upon you being able to demonstrate competence in the English language through a test.

We strongly advise you to make use of the Europass Language Passport. This is a self assessment tool that enables you to assess your proficiency in understanding, speaking and writing any European language. Employers in the UK will expect that you will be proficient at level C1. You can find all the information about the Europass Language Passport at www.europass.cedefop.europa.eu


So, the Fail is technically correct when they say that a nurse from the EU could register with the NMC if they didn't speak good English. But they wouldn't get a job.

damon said...

I don't know why you have to call it xenophobia. Four out of five is a very high ratio. If four out of five new truck drivers on UK roads was foreign I might be concerned about that myself - as it might affect my wages and conditions.

Does it matter at all if a majority of staff in old people's homes does not understand the culture of the people they are looking after, as they don't know much about the past in this country because they came from elsewhere? Never heard of some of the things old British people might talk about etc?