Healthcare Professionals Crossing Borders

Healthcare Professionals Crossing Borders is an informal partnership of around 50 professional healthcare regulators from Europe that works collaboratively on a range of regulatory issues. Their purpose is to contribute to patient safety in Europe through the effective regulatory collaboration in the context of cross-border healthcare and free movement of healthcare professionals. The GMC is a member of this partnership.

This agreement commits each member to:

• The sharing of information about healthcare professionals who have been subject to disciplinary or other sanctions imposed by a competent authority or other relevant body and which might affect the individual’s right to practise his profession, either in his member state of establishment or another member state
• It covers sanctions and undertakings arising from criminal behaviour, professional misconduct, professional incompetence or poor performance
• It also covers sanctions imposed as a result of impaired fitness to practise by reason of ill health.

This agreement has been in place since November 2011.