[lettie]

I have to agree here. I have had cause to ring one of the general wards where some of the Indian nurses were working. I couldn't get it through to this girl who answered the phone exactly what I wanted and had to ask for the sister in charge. When she was handing over the phone to the sister I heard her say "it's some woman to talk" I had explained who I was and why I was calling and had to do so again to the sister on that ward who was very apologetic. Communication is a big problem sometimes within the NHS but is definitely made worse when dealing with people who do not have a working knowledge of our language. The nursing qualifications will have been checked by the NMC prior to working here and they should have been double checked by each individual employer too. I know that mine have always been.
However, Health minister John Hutton has now announced that the loophole which allows health trusts to recruit in developing countries is to be closed, this will also extend to recruitment agencies that supply staff to the NHS ( RCM 2005). I wonder why? Is it that foreign staff have communication difficulties? Is it that their training does not match ours? Have people complained? or is it that within 12-24 months of coming here these nurses are nearly all pregnant and bringing over other family members?