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Letter to the Daily Telegraph: Doctors with poor English
April 14, 2010 12:00 PM
Max Pemberton's article about doctors from other EU countries practising in the UK ("Doctors working in the UK must be able to speak English", April 12th) might appear to blame EU regulations for the lack of testing of those doctors' English language skills when he says 'the GMC is currently powerless to test the English skills and competencies of doctors from the EU'. But as he adds, that is not the end of the story.
The principal problem surely lies with the UK government. EU legislation only prohibits systematic testing of all foreign doctors' language skills, not testing in individual cases where this is deemed necessary. Indeed, the relevant EU Directive says unambiguously: "Member States shall see to it that, where appropriate, the persons concerned acquire, in their interest and in that of their patients, the linguistic knowledge necessary to the exercise of their profession in the host country."
While the European Commission has said it is willing to take another look at EU law, this system is clearly not a free-for-all, the Directive's wording is clear and in France for instance, language skills are tested without problem.
What happened is that instead of the familiar 'gold-plating' - over-implementation - of an EU directive, the UK government applied 'tin-plating' by failing to take advantage of all its provisions. UK domestic legislation barred the GMC from carrying out checks on doctors' linguistic capability and placed the onus on PCTs and health service employers. But many PCTs and employers are simply failing to properly carry out the language checks, and it took an avoidable death for this to emerge into public notice.
The first step in response to the scandal whereby Dr Daniel Ubani tragically killed Mr David Gray should therefore be an examination by Parliament of the poor UK implementation of the provisions on free movement of EU doctors. Instead of always blaming 'Brussels', sometimes it can be worthwhile looking a bit closer to home.
Yours sincerely,
Sarah Ludford
(This letter was sent to the Daily Telegraph on 13 April 2010. The Daily Telegraph kindly printed the letter - printed version below - but however chose to omit among other sections the last paragraph.)
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SIR - Max Pemberton (Health, April 12) blames EU regulations for the failure to test the English-language skills of doctors from EU countries practising in Britain. As he adds, that is not the end of the story.
The principal problem lies with the Government. EU legislation only prohibits systematic testing of all foreign doctors' language skills, not testing in individual cases where this is deemed necessary.
The EU directive says: "Member States shall see to it that, where appropriate, the persons concerned acquire, in their interest and in that of their patients, the linguistic knowledge necessary to the exercise of their profession."
Instead of over-implementing an EU directive, the Government has failed to take advantage of all its provisions. Domestic legislation barred the General Medical Council from checking doctors' linguistic capability and placed the onus on primary care trusts and health service employers. Many simply fail to carry out the checks properly. It took an avoidable death for this to come to public notice.
Baroness Ludford MEP (Lib Dem)
(This letter was published by the Daily Telegraph on 14 April 2010.)
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