FOREIGN doctors will have to sit language tests before they can practice in Essex.
A new law will make it essential for the county’s health trusts to check the English language skills of all new overseas doctors before they are employed.
The measures, announced by health secretary Andrew Lansley, aim to ensure the 23,000 doctors from Europe registered to work in the NHS can speak the language properly and can understand their patients.
They also give powers to regulator, the General Medical Council, to take action against doctors if concerns are raised about their language skills Currently only patients outside Europe are tested for their language skills.
Doctors who fail the language test will be barred from taking a job in an NHS hospital or a GP surgery.
Mr Lansley said: “There is considerable anxiety amongst the public about the ability of doctors to speak English properly.
“We will amend the legislation to prevent all foreign doctors with a poor grasp of English from working in England. If you can't speak adequate English, you can't treat patients."
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