The Linguist

12 The Linguist Vol/65 No/1 ciol.org.uk/thelinguist FEATURES Fiona Long and Hayley Poulson tell Karl McLaughlin about the language and cultural support enabling refugees to restart their medical careers in the UK An unsung organisation based in Salford Royal Hospital, England, provides crucial opportunities for a growing number of individuals whose personal and professional lives have been thrown into turmoil by tragic events. REACHE (Refugee and Asylum Seekers Centre for Healthcare Professionals Education) offers refugee and asylum-seeking doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals a pathway to enter the NHS by facilitating registration with the General Medical Council (GMC) and the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). It is supported by, among others, NHS England and currently headed by director Dr Aisha Awan. Since its inception 23 years ago, it has assisted hundreds of individuals through requalification and professional registration, including around 350 doctors. Its free and comprehensive language and clinical training programme, supported by targeted work placements, enables participants to return to their careers in healthcare, including in rural communities which struggle to recruit and retain doctors. REACHE's English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and clinical tutors deliver a demanding curriculum, which takes an average of two years to complete. Its dedicated pastoral, housing and mental health support helps its 'members' (the term it uses to describe programme participants) focus on their training with confidence. As the new teaching term got into full swing, The Linguist caught up with Fiona Long and Hayley Poulson, senior members of the ESP team, to learn more about its work and the challenges it faces in delivering its aims. Could you begin by outlining who the beneficiaries of the REACHE programme are? We work with already qualified (in their home countries) doctors and nurses who are refugees, refugee spouses, asylum-seekers and people under humanitarian protection. Their countries of origin vary depending on where there is conflict and/or persecution. Down the years we have welcomed many Afghans, Egyptians, Syrians, Sudanese, Ethiopians and Eritreans, and in recent times are seeing an increased number from Ukraine and Gaza, a reflection of current conflicts. What qualifications do they need to register as doctors or nurses? In the ESP team, we prepare them for the internationally renowned Occupational English Test (OET). REACHE was an early adopter of OET as we felt that it was a more practical and useful qualification for our learners than more academic English exams such as IELTS. OET focuses on healthcare settings, enabling our learners to practise the functional language required for their future NHS careers. It is a medical-specific exam which tests situations much closer to the real-life situations they will experience, e.g. writing a referral letter, speaking in a consultation. On completion of OET, our clinical team prepares participants for the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board Test (PLAB), used by the General Medical Council to make sure doctors who qualified abroad have the correct knowledge and skills to practise medicine in the UK. Part 2 of the PLAB exam requires demonstration of clinical communication skills and our OET training is very valuable for this component. Is your English training solely about language? It also covers cultural awareness, language appropriateness (what to say and not say, use of lay language), techniques for explaining etc. It focuses on the NHS and how it works, which may be very different to health services in other countries and cultures. From the very beginning, we combine language learning with intercultural communication training. Why is there a need for training in intercultural communication? Our participants often come from cultures where doctors are held in very high esteem and patient voice is not considered: family can often make decisions about patients; mental health care may not exist; cultural behaviours may be very different. We teach how to speak From war to the NHS NEW BEGINNINGS REACHE graduates celebrate at an event in July after gaining the qualifications they need to work within the NHS

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