A GREEK nurse with perfect English who has been forced to work as a care assistant in Northern Ireland after repeatedly failing a controversial NHS language test has finally been registered to work - after the regulator relaxed its rules.
Foteini Kourakou (28) has become the first person based in the north to sit a new exam which was officially recognised by the professional body, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), last autumn.
The University of Athens graduate, who has a background in intensive care unit nursing, has been based in a Co Antrim care home for the past two years in a much lower skilled job because she kept narrowly failing the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).
The test was introduced by the British government in 2016 to curb immigration.
Obscure essay questions on topics unrelated to nursing - including jam-making and road tolls - led to an outcry across the NHS as failure rates started to soar among European nursing applicants, leading to a dramatic drop in registrations at a time of major workforce shortages and the threat of Brexit.
Ms Kourakou, who came to live in the north to be with her fiancé in 2016, spent almost £2,000 in exam fees and tutoring - but failed the IELTS eight times.
While scoring almost maximum marks on the speaking, reading and listening components, she kept failing the essay section.
"I became totally demoralised and so nervous about each exam. All I ever wanted to do was nurse but it was becoming impossible. There was also the expense as I was on a low wage as a healthcare assistant. The exam cost £150 and then I paid at least £60 a month for tutoring courses," she told The Irish News.
Bowing to the backlash - an English-born health trust chief even failed the exam after taking it as an experiment - the NMC last year announced it would recognise the Occupation English Test (OET) for European nurses wanting to work in the NHS.
The IELTS is still used for other applicants.
Ms Kourakou travelled to Dublin in January to sit the £400 exam as it is not available in the north.
"It was equally as difficult as the IELTS but the big difference was that the writing element was specific to nursing. I was asked to write an essay in which they gave me a situation about a patient and I had to do a referral letter," she said.
"Referrals are something I will be doing throughout my career so it is completely relevant. In the previous exams I was asked to write about more abstract things such as parenting classes for children."
Despite passing the exam at the beginning of year, she did not receive the results for seven weeks and the lengthy registration process meant she only qualified last month.
She began working as a nurse in the same care home for adults with learning disabilities at a fortnight ago.
"It has made a massive difference professionally and also financially. I am able to do the work I was trained to do," she said.
"I would really like to return to ICU nursing and hope to work in a Northern Ireland hospital in the future."
