|
| News release
Date: Thursday 16th July 2002 "WE CANNOT HAVE UNREGISTERED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS OPERATING IN THE UK" - NEW ALLIANCE OF REGULATORS LAUNCH CAMPAIGN AGAINST EU DIRECTIVE Ten of the UK's health and social care regulators have joined forces to raise awareness and support for their concerns regarding the draft EU Directive entitled "Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications." The new Alliance, AURE (Alliance of UK Health Regulators on Europe), believes that the Directive, as it stands, poses a new threat to patient safety. Alliance members welcome the contribution made by health professionals from other European countries and support freedom of movement of professionals. However, they have serious concerns about certain aspects of the Directive and its impact on patient safety. Under the current proposals, healthcare professionals from any EU country would be allowed to work for up to four months per year, every year, in the UK, without being registered with a UK regulator. In practice this means that if there was a problem with the care a person received, the UK regulators would have no powers to take action against the individual. Nor would there be any means of preventing the same problem from happening again (with another patient). The Directive also proposes to water down existing public protection safeguards. Each regulator needs to be able to assure the public that everyone coming onto its register is able to practise safely. The Alliance wants to see an effective mechanism put in place, which ensures high standards of practice in education, training and communication across the EU. The current proposals do not meet this need. Marking the launch of the Alliance, Professor Nairn Wilson, President of the General Dental Council said, "We have formed this Alliance because we all exist to protect the public and uphold the highest standards of care. We believe that the Directive should be an opportunity to secure the standards we would all like to see but the draft fails to do this". Professor Sir Graeme Catto, President of the General Medical Council added, "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". Jonathan Asbridge, President of the Nursing and Midwifery Council said, "We need to have common standards for all healthcare professionals across the EU so that patients can be confident in those treating them. Patients must also be able to understand and communicate with the healthcare professional they are seeing, otherwise they will lose confidence in the professionals and the system. The Directive does not address these important points." Vanessa Bourne, Chair, Patients' Association, welcomed the launch of the regulators' campaign, "It is vital that patients have confidence in the practitioners they see, we are pleased that the regulators have recognised the threat this Directive poses and are prepared to take action" The Alliance will act as the co-ordinator of the regulators' lobbying of the UK Government and the EU Commission, to highlight the serious flaws in the Directive and campaign to ensure that patient safety is enshrined at the heart of the Commission's proposals. ENDS For further information and interviews with the Alliance spokespeople contact: David Oliver on 020 7413 3048 or 07900 823 596 Or Matt Ball, Convenor of AURE on 020 7344 4750 or mobile 07909 992 807 Notes to editors: 1. The membership of the Alliance (AURE) is: : 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. 2. These organisations are statutory bodies that exist to regulate those healthcare professionals who operate in these areas. 3. The EU Directive on Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications has not yet been enacted. |