Matt Chorley, Political Editor for MailOnline
Doctors who cannot speak 'very good English' should be banned from practising in the UK, Nigel Farage said today.
The Ukip leader said it was 'scandalous' that not enough doctors and nurses were being trained in Britain, meaning thousands are brought in from overseas.
And he insisted that major savings could be made in the NHS budget 'without any shadow of a doubt there is'.
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Mr Farage revealed that over the coming months senior Ukip figures will use a series of speeches to set out a raft of new policies, to counter the impression that the party is a one-man band obsessed with immigration and Europe.
In the first major announcement, he called for a ban on doctors being hired in the NHS if they cannot speak English.
But he appeared unaware that two years ago the General Medical Council announced new checks to be carried out on the language skills of medical staff.
All NHS doctors have to pass a language test. Amid a crackdown on poor language skills, it emerged in July that 43 per cent of doctors sanctioned by the GMC were from overseas.
The GMC has released a list of the 476 doctors in the UK ‘on undertakings’ after concerns were raised about their conduct, seen as a ‘final chance’ rather than strike doctors off the Medical Register.
In total 135 (28 per cent) of the doctors are from countries outside Europe, 66 (14 per cent) from EU countries, six from non-EU European counties (one per cent) and 269 (57 per cent) from the UK.
The NHS careers website clearly states that registered doctors must pass a test under the International English Language Testing System.
But Mr Farage insisted the problem continues, and voters were concerned about it. He told Sky News's Murnaghan programme: 'Don't we want to live in a country where we speak the same language?
'And isn't it scandalous that we are not training enough nurses and doctors in our own country?
'I don't know about you, whether you've ever been to a GP that didn't speak very good English, and it's something that people out there are talking about.
'The whole point about immigration, whether it impacts on the health service or elsewhere, is that we have to have proper integration.'
The NHS careers website which sets out the requirements for foreign doctors working in the health service clearly states that they must demonstrate a command of the English language before registering with the General Medical Council (GMC).
The website states: 'Applicants who register with the GMC must also demonstrate competence in the English language by achieving a specific mark in the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).'
Mr Farage said people who do not speak English should not be employed in the NHS but refused to commit to sacking those already working in the service.
Asked whether he would sack non-English speakers in the NHS, the Ukip leader said: 'If people don't speak English and they are dealing with English-speaking patients then surely they shouldn't be employed in the first place.'
Mr Farage also said Ukip would set out policies for saving money within the NHS, suggesting that middle management staff could be cut.
But he acknowledged that overall health spending would have to rise to deal with Britain's ageing population.
Asked whether there is scope for savings within the NHS, Mr Farage said: 'Without any shadow of a doubt there is, although overall health spending is going to go up over the next few years because our population is rising so rapidly.
'So there's no way around that - this is going to be costing us more money in a few years' time than it is now. That doesn't mean that it can't be more efficient.
'The savings are clear, aren't they, in the sense that the growth of middle management staff in the NHS since 1997, it's gone up by 48 per cent.
'Don't tell me there aren't efficiencies that can't be made, there are.'