If you are a medical professional who qualified abroad and are not a native English speaker, you will have to prove your eligibility to practice in the UK by taking the Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board (PLAB) test. Watch the video below to find out more about the PLAB test and how to become a medical professional in the United Kingdom.
Before being eligible to sit this examination you will first be required to give evidence that you have the ability to use English at a professional level. To do this you will need to take the IELTS examination or the OET test as delivered by Cambridge Examinations.
IELTS
In June 2014 it became a legal obligation for doctors born outside the UK to achieve at least a score of 7.0 in all of the components of the IELTS exam (reading, speaking writing, listening) if they are to practice medicine in Britain. The purpose of this rule is to ensure best practices in the NHS by ensuring that all doctors have the reading, listening, speaking and writing skills to match their medical knowledge.
If you need to improve your IELTS score before you can take the PLAB test then you should consider booking classes or tuition with Lantern Languages.
Email me at: geoff@lanternlanguages.com
OET – Occupational English Test
In February 2018 the General Medical Council announced that it would be accepting the Occupational English Test as evidence of the ability of foreign doctors and nurses to use English in a medical environment. This has broken the monopoly of the IELTS exam as a language test for medics giving foreign medical staff an alternative route to proving that their English is not a barrier to their fitness to practice medicine in the United Kingdom.
Medical professionals living in the West Midlands can choose between several study options in Birmingham. On our OET Birmingham page we also give advice on how and where to take the OET exam.