See You at the NATECLA Conference 2026
EVENTS · ESOL SLC Managing Director Chris Moore is heading to NATECLA this week — without doubt the highlight of the UK ESOL calendar. Chris
June 25, 2026
What’s the difference between IELTS writing 6.5 and 7.0?
At the beginning of 2016, the NMC introduced a new regulation which required all nurses from outside the UK to achieve a score of 7.0 or above (out of 9.0) in all four areas of the Academic IELTS exam – reading, listening, writing and speaking – in order to obtain a license to practise as nurses in the UK.
The purpose of this was to address concerns over patient safety in relation to the ability of overseas nurses to communicate effectively in English. The score needed for Writing was recently reduced to 6.5. SLC’s Programme Manager Beth explores the difference between 6.5 and 7.0 in this detailed report.
Are you recruiting from overseas and need IELTS or PTE Academic preparation for your candidates as part of the process?
SLC works with healthcare employers and international healthcare recruitment companies around the world to prepare doctors and nurses from around the world to achieve the IELTS or PTE Academic English test scores they need to register in English-speaking countries such as the US and UK.
EVENTS · ESOL SLC Managing Director Chris Moore is heading to NATECLA this week — without doubt the highlight of the UK ESOL calendar. Chris
Back to Menu ↩ Artificial intelligence is being adopted across healthcare at a remarkable pace, and language access services are no exception. Hospitals are increasingly
Back to Menu ↩ Standardized patients — trained actors who simulate clinical encounters — have long been considered the gold standard for teaching doctor-patient communication.
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