Features: EU Directive could put patients at risk
25 March 2009
Is the EU's draft for a Directive on Cross Border healthcare putting patients at risk?
The GMC’s call for changes to be made to the European Commission's draft for a Directive on Cross-Border Healthcare has been echoed in a report published by the House of Lords’ EU Committee.
The GMC gave evidence to the Committee in November 2008 expressing concern that, if the Directive were approved without amendment, member states could unwittingly be employing doctors who have been suspended or even erased from the register in their home country, putting patients at risk. In addition, patients seeking treatment may not have access to information about a doctor’s disciplinary record as they do in the UK.
In its report, the Committee cites the GMC and argues that responsibility for providing information to patients on the health services available in a member state should rest with the government of that member state. Crucially, the Committee also recommends that member states should be 'obliged to exchange information on medical practitioners' fitness to practise'. Currently, there is no legal requirement for regulators in member states to exchange information about doctors’ disciplinary records.
If the Directive is approved, all EU citizens will be able to receive treatment outside their member state and claim up to the amount the treatment would have cost in their home country. GMC Chair, Professor Sir Graeme Catto, said: ‘Patients, as well as having a right to receive healthcare anywhere in the EU, have an equal right to be confident that they will be treated by safe doctors who are properly regulated’.
European Parliament committees are now considering amendments to the Directive and MEPs are expected to vote on these in April. The Directive will take effect once the European Parliament and EU governments in the Council of Ministers have approved the proposal which, depending on the legislative timetable, could be before the end of the year.
GMC Poll
According to the website http://www.treatmentabroad.com/ last year 50,000 Britons travelled overseas for medical treatment. This could well increase once the Directive comes into force.
In response to a UK poll commissioned by the GMC, 94% of respondents said that they agree that if a doctor is erased from the register of an EU member state, the regulatory authorities there should inform the GMC and other member states.
Over 80% of respondents also agreed they would be put off getting treatment in a country outside the UK if they did not fully understand how to complain.