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BBC Radio 5 Live

5 live Investigates

5 Live Investigates

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Adrian Goldberg presents cutting edge investigative journalism

Adrian Goldberg presents cutting edge investigative journalism, as well as taking on listeners' campaigns and consumer issues

5 Live Investigates: NHS Staff Who Can't Speak English

18/09/2011

NHS Staff Who Can't Speak English

BBC Radio 5 Live - 5 Live Investigates, NHS Staff Who Can't Speak English

Adrian Goldberg reveals the widespread problem of NHS staff who can't speak English.

Adrian Goldberg exposes the widespread problem of NHS staff who can't speak English. He hears about the doctors, nurses, dentists and care workers struggling to understand patients

In the news this week: the doctors and nurses who can't speak English. But 5 live Investigates can reveal the problem is even bigger than that. 

We hear that the poor English of some overseas professionals is causing confusion, mistakes and bad treatment across the whole of the healthcare system in the UK.

We talk to patients and health insiders who say that some care workers, dentists and pharmacists - as well as doctors and nurses - cannot properly understand their patients.

People arriving from the European Union do not have to pass English language tests to register to work. The General Medical Council, the Nursing and Midwifery Council and other healthcare bodies, say this needs to change.

It's up to employers to assess an individual's fluency before they are given an actual job, but not all of them do this.

And, 5 live Investigates finds, even some overseas NHS staff from outside Europe, who have passed language tests, struggle to communicate clearly.

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