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EU order on nurses coming from Eastern Europe could lead to lives being lost.

Under current EU orders thousands of nurses from Eastern Europe will now be allowed to work in the Britain without any safety checks as EU rules demand that the tests are scrapped.

Previously any nurses coming from Eastern Europe who wanted to work in Britain would have to undergo rigorous tests to gain employment. The test would ensure their clinical skills are up to standard. They had to either show they have carried out a minimum of 4500 hours' of nursing in their own country in the past three years or they must attend an intensive three-month course with regular tests on their skills and knowledge.

Critics say the change will “almost certainly lead to lives being lost.” The Nursing and Midwifery Council will have to stop administering the tests in Autumn after being told it could be sued by the European Commission for breaking EU law on “freedom of movement” for workers from the Continent.

With the expansion of the EU has seen more than 40,000 nurses in the past five years applying to work in Britain. These include applicants from former Soviet Bloc countries such as Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia. Out of the 40,000 applicants, only 270 nurses completed the course set by the Nursing and Midwifery Council. Reasons for such low numbers passing the course are attributed to the cost and difficulty. Now the Nursing and Midwifery Council, which regulates nurses, has been forced to scrap both requirements because they are deemed to be “discriminatory” towards workers from EU member states.

However, the current tests will still apply to nurses coming from non-EU countries, which could lead to a two-tier system in terms of expertise and knowledge of nurses working in Britain.

The changes that will come into effect in autumn will see the system for nurses working in Britain almost the same as GPs coming from EU Countries, which allows them to cover out-of-hours shifts without tests on their skills or language abilities.

Such lack of regulation & checks for GPs coming from EU countries has been branded “disastrous” and was exposed when a tired German locum Daniel Ubani administered ten times the normal dose of diamorphine to retired engineer David Grey resulting in his death.

With the axing of current tests could see thousands of nurses from EU countries wanting to come and work in Britain in NHS trusts or through agencies. Currently the figures show around 2,000 nurses and midwifes from EU countries coming to live and work in Britain every year.

Under the current system those nurses who can't prove their recent experience must undergo the same tests as British nurses returning to work after an absence of three years. Although EU nurses are not tested on their English skills, they are unlikely to pass if their English was not to a proficient enough standard.

With the abolition of the current system nurses from non-EU countries in contrast will still face stricter checks and must score seven points out if a possible nine in a compulsory English test. Roy Grey, the son of David Grey who died under the care of locum Doctor Daniel Ubani said, “This is terrible. I cannot believe the EU is doing this - people are going to die. We are working with the General Medical Council trying to get the law changed to avoid yet more deaths and all the while the rules are being relaxed for overseas nurses.”

Katherine Murphy of the Patients' Association said, “We saw with the Ubani case that this system is completely unacceptable and applaud the NMC for having ignored it for so long. They clearly saw they needed to put these additional checks in place to make sure they fulfilled their duties to protect patients. It is outrageous that European law is forcing them to change their procedures.”

The NMC said, “It was ‘with some reluctance' that it scrapped the requirements, but it feared being sued by a nurse from an EU country or facing a fine from Brussels.”

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Posted: July 27, 2010, 11:34 am.

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