Foreign nurses working in the district's hospitals are to face compulsory English tests to make sure they have a good grasp of the language.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council is so concerned about the poor language of foreign recruits that it is introducing the new test from this week.

All applicants to register with the NMC from countries outside the EU, who don't have English as their first language, will have to sit an International English Language Test.

Nurses in Bradford and Airedale will be among those who face taking the test to register in this country.

Airedale NHS Trust already has 18 nurses from Southern India working across the organisation and recruitment is currently taking place of up to 20 nurses from China.

Trust critical care service manager Steve Tomlinson said: "Our main concern when we recruit from overseas is the level of English. It is important for two reasons.

"We have a huge responsibility to our patients, to make sure they are treated by nurses who have a good level of English. We also have a responsibility to the nurses, who would be miserable here if they did not have a good level of English."

Representatives from Bradford College are in China making sure the nurses' English is of a good standard and this will be followed by a three-month visit by Trust representatives who will focus on their understanding of English medical language.

But Sandra Bullock, Royal College of Nursing officer for Bradford and Airedale, said the RCN had reservations about the English test.

"We feel it does not test the full range of communications skills," she said. "There are colloquialisms that can cause problems, for example when patients ask to spend a penny they may not understand."