The GMC has said it will continue to lobby the EU for a change in the law to allow it to language-test doctors, even as other regulators say they have given up.
The 2005 EU directive on the recognition of professional qualifications enabled the free movement of clinicians around Europe, by requiring the GMC and other regulators to accept overseas medical qualifications. But it also bars them from conducting any formal language testing.
As a result, European clinicians may be registered with the GMC despite struggling to understand English. The case of Dr Daniel Ubani, a German doctor who accidentally killed a patient on his first UK out-of-hours shift, highlighted the risks of hiring doctors whose English is not fluent.
A spokeswoman for the GMC said: “We want to be able to systematically test doctors’ English language ability at the point of first registration,” she said. “We continue to press for change both as an independent organisation and with other healthcare regulators.”
She reminded employers that they had a responsibility to conduct interviews, to ensure applicants’ language skills were up to the job.
Read more at Healthcare Republic.
Tags: GMC, Language test
