Australia will have a new English language skills registration standard for nurses and midwives from September 19.

The Australian Health Workforce Ministerial Council has approved the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia’s revised language skills standard which requires registered nurses, midwives and enrolled nurses to communicate effectively in English.

The new language skills standard accepts applicants who have completed a minimum of five years, full-time equivalent of combined secondary, vocational or tertiary education taught and assessed in English in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, the United Kingdom or the United States without the need to sit an English language test.

Registered nurses and registered midwives must complete two of those five years in a pre-registration program of study while enrolled nurses must complete one of those five years in a pre-registration program.

The revised standard still requires other applicants to submit evidence of English proficiency through their English test results, achieving a minimum of level seven in one sitting across listening, reading, writing and speaking in the academic International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or a B score or above in one sitting of the four components in the Occupational English Test (OET).

Australian College of Midwives NSW branch president Joanne Gray said the board had outlined clear English language standard requirements.

“I think the important message is that in all of this we have to ensure effective communication is a key component for all health professionals,” she said.

“It’s absolutely essential that anybody who is going to be registered as a health professional is confident in their ability to communicate in English.

“Communication is actually the key to the work we all do.”

Ms Gray said it was a “difficult requirement” for students to achieve level seven in one sitting in the IELTS while the revised standard posed a challenge for universities providing pre-registration education.

“It does mean we have to consider the IELTS entry level to our program,” she said.

“We do have this tension between what’s going to be really hard for students and what’s required.

“We have to be aware of that and manage that.”