Labour is accused of failing to ensure healthcare staff meet basic English standards at a time when NHS spending on translation and interpretation services has more than doubled in half a decade. The Department of Health and Social Care confirmed it has not assessed whether the English language standard required for frontline staff is adequate.

Shadow Health Secretary Stuart Andrew said: “Clear communication is essential in healthcare. Patients and clinicians must be able to understand one another to deliver safe, effective treatment. The NHS is already under immense pressure. Patients expect ministers to have a grip on standards, safety, and the growing taxpayer bill. Right now, they simply do not.”

It is a legal requirement for frontline staff to be proficient in English. Last year it was revealed that the cost of translation and interpretation services in the NHS has more than doubled from £31million in 2020-21 to £64million in 2024-25.

The department has previously disclosed it does not centrally track how much interpretation contracts cost across the NHS.

Health minister Karin Smyth admitted in a parliamentary answer that “no assessment has been made by the department of the adequacy of English language proficiency requirements for registered nurses and care staff in National Health Service settings”. But she said it is “the responsibility of NHS employers to assess the English language proficiency of nurses and the care staff they employ as part of their recruitment process to ensure workers have a sufficient level of English to carry out their role safely”.

The Conservatives accused Labour of “introducing tougher language rules for some immigrants while failing to ensure clear standards in vital frontline services”. They say ministers are “failing to ensure basic English standards across key parts of health service”. The Government has announced that immigrants coming to the UK on certain legal routes will be required to have “an A level equivalent standard in speaking, listening, reading and writing”. The Home Office has acknowledged the ability to speak English is a “key factor” in integration.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “Nearly a million people in England and Wales cannot speak [English] well and the Government cannot even say whether language standards in critical frontline services are adequate. Speaking English is fundamental to integration in Britain, fundamental participation in everyday life.

“If people arrive here and never learn English, they cannot integrate and cannot build a life independent of the state. That is a catastrophic failure.”

But a source at the Department of Health and Social Care said: “These figures cover the period in which the Conservatives set the NHS budgets and policies. It’s good to see they are now admitting they failed.”