Draft EU legislation threatens patient safety, says BMA
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《英国医生杂志》
Draft legislation designed to make it easier for a wide range of professions in the services sector to work anywhere in the European Union would pose a serious threat to health safeguards for patients and to the NHS, the BMA claimed last week.
The BMA fears that the proposed services directive, tabled by the European Commission earlier this year, would limit the ability of individual member states to set their own standards, clinical guidelines, and qualification rules for doctors and other health professions working within their borders.
Under the "country of origin" principle being advanced in the proposal, a doctor working in the United Kingdom who had qualified in another EU country would effectively be regulated by his or her home country. This, the BMA points out, would mean that "the UK would not be able to insist they work under the standards it lays down for its own doctors."
Negotiations are now under way between EU governments and the European parliament on the final shape of the new legislation, which is designed to reduce red tape and restrictions for professions ranging from software consultants to travel agents looking to work in another EU country.
There is cross-party support in the United Kingdom for the medical professions?view that health care is very different to the commercial services covered by the proposal and so should be exempt.
John Hutton, the junior health minister, said: "We agree with the BMA. We don抰 believe that the directive should cover health services. We are working very hard and lobbying in Europe with other EU member countries which share our position. We will work closely with the DTI during negotiations."
The European Commission, however, believes the fears to be unjustified. A spokesman described them as "totally nonsensical," arguing that medical qualifications had been harmonised across the union for many years.
"Doctors, nurses, dentists, and vets from another member state have undergone the same training and met the same standards as their counterparts in the UK. So, this will not change anything," he said.
Arlene McCarthy, the spokeswoman for British Labour MEPs on single market issues, shares the BMA抯 reservations and admits that the scope of the draft legislation is unclear in several areas. She is hoping that public hearings which the European Parliament is holding on 11 November will help to clarify many of the issues involved.
"We are at a very early stage, and we need to look very closely at the health aspects. We need to consider the possibility of a blanket ban for health care or a limited application of the legislation抯 provisions. If we go down the first route, the health sector will have to come forward with strong arguments on why it should be excluded altogether," she said.(Brussels Rory Watson)
The BMA fears that the proposed services directive, tabled by the European Commission earlier this year, would limit the ability of individual member states to set their own standards, clinical guidelines, and qualification rules for doctors and other health professions working within their borders.
Under the "country of origin" principle being advanced in the proposal, a doctor working in the United Kingdom who had qualified in another EU country would effectively be regulated by his or her home country. This, the BMA points out, would mean that "the UK would not be able to insist they work under the standards it lays down for its own doctors."
Negotiations are now under way between EU governments and the European parliament on the final shape of the new legislation, which is designed to reduce red tape and restrictions for professions ranging from software consultants to travel agents looking to work in another EU country.
There is cross-party support in the United Kingdom for the medical professions?view that health care is very different to the commercial services covered by the proposal and so should be exempt.
John Hutton, the junior health minister, said: "We agree with the BMA. We don抰 believe that the directive should cover health services. We are working very hard and lobbying in Europe with other EU member countries which share our position. We will work closely with the DTI during negotiations."
The European Commission, however, believes the fears to be unjustified. A spokesman described them as "totally nonsensical," arguing that medical qualifications had been harmonised across the union for many years.
"Doctors, nurses, dentists, and vets from another member state have undergone the same training and met the same standards as their counterparts in the UK. So, this will not change anything," he said.
Arlene McCarthy, the spokeswoman for British Labour MEPs on single market issues, shares the BMA抯 reservations and admits that the scope of the draft legislation is unclear in several areas. She is hoping that public hearings which the European Parliament is holding on 11 November will help to clarify many of the issues involved.
"We are at a very early stage, and we need to look very closely at the health aspects. We need to consider the possibility of a blanket ban for health care or a limited application of the legislation抯 provisions. If we go down the first route, the health sector will have to come forward with strong arguments on why it should be excluded altogether," she said.(Brussels Rory Watson)