CLEAR News - Fall 2002

CLEAR News - Fall 2002

International News

UK Healthcare Regulators Opposed to New EU Directive on Mutual Recognition
The Alliance of UK Healthcare Regulators on Europe (AURE) has been formed to lobby for changes to a new draft European Commission Directive, the Directive on Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications. AURE (which is comprised of the General Medical Council, General Dental Council, General Optical Council, General Osteopathic Council, General Chiropractic Council, Health Professions Council, Nursing and Midwifery Council, Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, General Social Care Council, and the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland) fears that the directive would weaken regulators’ jurisdiction over incoming health care professionals from other EU countries, and undermine existing mechanisms for setting common training standards.

General Medical Council (GMC) President, Graeme Catto said: "If this directive was implemented in its current form, patient safety could be at risk from day one. As regulators we have a legal duty to ensure patient safety." Matt Ball, GMC public affairs manager noted that "The formation of the Alliance will help ensure that we and the other UK regulators get our message across effectively in the UK and Brussels in order to secure the changes we believe are necessary."

Among the specific concerns expressed by AURA is the proposal that nationals already established in one Member State could practice in another for up to 16 weeks without needing to register. AURA fears that consumers would suffer and has proposed an exemption for healthcare workers and a requirement to register in the host country prior to practice. Further, AURE is opposed to the suggested abolition of the Advisory Committees on Training (as contained in the Directive). Currently, each profession has a committee to ensure a consistently high standard of training across the EU. The proposed directive seeks to establish one committee for all professions, something that AURE feels is unrealistic. Finally, the Alliance proposes making a language requirement a pre-requisite for registration, suggesting that some form of testing may be appropriate (see here and here for related stories regarding language testing for nursing).

Major EU Report on the Internal Market Highlights Shortcomings
A major EU report published in late July 2002, indicates that barriers to the free movement of services leave businesses and consumers short-changed. Some ten years after the supposed completion of the Internal Market, European businesses and consumers feel they continue to lose out because of the difference between the vision of an integrated European economy and day to day reality. The report includes an extensive listing of barriers that are claimed to prevent the smooth functioning of the Internal.

Internal Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein remarked that "Economic growth is essentially driven by services. They account for 70% of GDP and of employment. So everybody in Europe pays the price for the restrictions that stop the Internal Market from working properly. Business and consumers lose the chance to benefit from a wider choice of better and cheaper services. And much of the job creation potential of service industries is lost. I am determined to break down those barriers and urge the Member States to join with the Commission to do so: we need to win that fight if we are to make the European economy the most competitive in the world."

The next step for the Commission is to establish measures to overcome the legal and other barriers identified in the report.

Related Links:
The full text of the Commission's report is available here.
The EU has also published a list of frequently asked questions about the report and these can be found here.

International Association of Medical Regulatory Authorities (IAMRA) Founded Following Toronto Conference
June saw the creation of the International Association of Medical Regulatory Authorities (IAMRA) following the Fifth Annual Conference on Medical Regulation, held June 15-17, 2002 in Toronto (program details are available here). The stated purpose of the association (previously known as the International Association of Medical Licensing Authorities and founded in September 2000) is to support high standards in physician education, provide information exchange between regulatory authorities in the field of medicine, and support research and analysis in the field.

MarkPaulson, Governance project manager with the UK's General Medical Council (GMC) stated: " We register a large number of doctors from other countries, and in recent years the majority of new registrants have qualified abroad. There are important public interest issues about the exchange of information between regulators, because doctors are globally such a highly mobile workforce." He added that "the challenges the GMC faces are not unique to the UK, and we can learn much from other countries."

Related Links:
(UK) General Medical Council

In Other International News....
Post-Enron the UK Government considers radical reform of the regulation of accountants (Manchester Guardian/The Observer) - more

UK Government suggests major reforms may be considered for legal profession (The Independent) - more

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