Foreign NHS nurses are being sent on intensive university courses to understand the BLACK COUNTRY accent and dialect.
Greek and Italian staff recruited to work at Wolverhampton’s New Cross Hospital are to be sent on the courses after struggling to grasp the strong local lingo.
The nurses are fluent in English, but the distinctive dialect in the Black Country can leave outsiders baffled.
Nearly 80 staff will be sent on the six week course at the University of Wolverhampton to be versed in local sayings like ‘bostin’ which means ‘great’ and ‘I cor’ for ‘I can’t’.
David Loughton, chief executive of the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, said it made sense to teach the nurses some Black Country language.
He said: “You can teach English to people overseas but the dialect needs to be taught here.
“It just makes sense to do it. The English they know is probably not the language they’ll get thrown at them in hospital.
“Even the ones that are proficient in English will have to do some further education in terms of the Black Country dialect.”
University spokesman James Allen said the university was more than happy to tweak their lessons a touch to add a bit of local flavour.
He added: “It won’t be a case of ‘I cor do that’ they’ll soon be asking ‘ow bist yow?’
“We’re proud to be working with the hospital in providing English classes to their new nursing staff.
“As part of that we’ll be teaching the nurses the nuances of the Black Country dialect, which they will need when dealing with patients.”
Initially nurses were going to be hired from India, China and the Philippines because of a shortage of qualified nurses in the UK, but this soon changed to southern Europe.
The nurses will be paid a salary of £21,500, as is consistent with NHS guidelines.
The recruitment drive follows criticism for the trust from national health body the Care Quality Commission.
They demanded action be taken after a hospital inspection revealed that at night there was one registered nurse for every 10 patients.
BLACK COUNTRY NURSE PHRASES TRANSLATED
Black Country: “Ah bin guzzlin’ Banks’s all night, ‘ad sum argy bargy un ah caw see strayt bur ah ay blathered.”
Translated: “This evening I consumed some of the local ale and unfortunately became embroiled in a fight. For the life of me I can’t see properly but I assure you I am not inebriated.”
Black Country: “Sum baerk gimme a towellin’ un me conk is bosted.”
Translated: “A rude gentleman hit me in the face and now I fear my nose is broken.”
Black Country: “Warro nuss this ‘ospital be riffy.”
Translated: “Hello nurse, I’d like to inform you that this hospital’s cleaning standards aren’t up to scratch.”
Black Country: “Ah shed me pills, ay yow goranee muwer? Gizzit ere.”
Translated: “I appear to have dropped the medication you gave me. I don’t suppose you have any more? Please pass them to me.”
Black Country: “Me sprog ‘ad the collywobbles un now eez bostin. Ta. Any road up, tarra a bit!”
Translated: “My child was feeling very unwell but now he’s fully recovered. Thank you very much. Anyway, goodbye for now.”
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