We have had a great response to the petition and are planning to launch a national campaign with the support of the3million, Unison ,Healthier in EU and other organisations. Your efforts are deeply appreciated and we’re overwhelmed with the positive responses we’ve been receiving. NMC Lobbying and Council Meeting - Call to Action On Wednesday 5th of July the NMC is holding a council meeting in London. The NMC council confirmed that they will not be reaching a decision regarding IELTS on the day however the council will accept the evidence which we will be submitting. We must lobby the NMC to change the existing IELTS test requirements. We believe that the current IELTS requirements are jeopardizing patient health and safety as a lot of nursing vacancies remain unfilled due to the difficulty level of IELTS test. To date there is no concrete evidence that increasing the ILETS score from 6.5 to 7.0 has a positive effect on patient health and safety. We will be there at the meeting lobbying the NMC. More information about the NMC council meeting can be found here: https://www.nmc.org.uk/about-us/governance/the-council/council-meetings/ In order to amplify and put pressure on the NMC to look into the issue you can email the NMC directly asking them to change the IELTS test requirements. You can email the NMC at : policy@nmc-uk.org We urge you to ask the NMC how it justifies the high scores required to pass when other English speaking countries with high level of medical care, like Australia, USA and Canada require lower scores. Ask the NMC to provide evidence and justification for this decision. National Campaign to Raise Awareness – Your Stories Matter We are starting a national campaign to raise awareness and put pressure on the NMC to change the ILETS requirements. The national campaign is supported by the3million organisation for EU citizen rights and Healthier in EU. One of the most powerful ways of influencing the present and changing the future is through your stories. Please write to us and tell us your story of the difficulties you experienced with meeting the IELTS requirements and how it affects you on the professional as well as personal level. These stories need to be told so the public knows that we’re not statistics on page but real people who are adversely affected by these requirements. Your stories allow us to more effectively lobby the NMC and talk to the public about the issue of the ILETS test scores. The more we talk about our how the IELTS tests affect our lives the more public perception will change. We will protect your identity if you choose to remain anonymous. Please tell us if you wish to be contacted regarding your story. You can write to us at: stories@the3million.org.uk You can also always call us on 07412080604 to discuss your story We can work together to change the IELTS requirements!