Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-03-11-Speech-3-438"
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"en.20090311.39.3-438"2
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"− Madam President, I am very pleased to have been invited to make a statement to Parliament on the Green Paper on the EU Workforce for Health, adopted by the Commission on 10 December 2008.
The health workforce debate is distinct from the issues covered by the draft directive on patients’ rights in cross-border healthcare.
Indeed, that proposal focuses on the rules and arrangements needed to provide access, in equitable conditions, to safe and high quality healthcare for patients moving across Europe.
The primary aim of the draft legislation is to enforce, in a fair and consistent manner, patients’ rights as recognised by the European Court of Justice. It does not seek to regulate cross-border provision of health services, freedom of establishment or the mobility of health professionals.
However, that does not mean that the draft directive ignores safety and quality of care for patients seeking healthcare abroad – which is intrinsically related to the context in which healthcare is provided by health professionals.
In this respect, the draft directive sets out very clearly an essential rule, which is that, as regards cross-border healthcare, the rules of the country of treatment apply.
Let me also briefly mention other provisions, such as those in Article 5 of the proposal: Member States would commit to defining national quality and safety standards, to implementing them effectively and to making them public. Healthcare providers would provide all the relevant information to enable patients to make an informed choice – including details of their insurance cover or other means of personal or collective protection with regard to professional liability, which must be in place in all Member States, patients would have a means of making complaints and of receiving remedies and compensation when they suffer harm arising from the healthcare they receive.
With this set of principles and rules, I believe that the draft directive defines a clear relationship between the patient and the provider to ensure sound information as well as safe and quality care for European citizens who decide to travel to another Member State for treatment.
Let me also recall that, under the primary responsibility of my colleague Commissioner McCreevy, there is another important piece of EU legislation which regulates mutual recognition of qualifications for doctors, nurses, dentists, midwives and pharmacists. I refer to Directive 2005/36/EC, which is now in force. That Directive also provides for specific obligations for Member States as regards the exchange of information in the case of movement of health professionals. Those flows of data are facilitated by the use of the internal market information (IMI) system, which already allows for the electronic exchange of information on the five main health professions. Furthermore, an extension of IMI to all regulated professions is envisaged.
To conclude, tackling the challenges of the EU health workforce whilst ensuring financial sustainability of health systems will be one of the major tasks for Europe over the next decade. This requires a comprehensive policy approach, as no Member State can realistically find its own solution in isolation. The solution cannot simply be to attract health workers from developing countries, where the shortage is even greater.
To that effect, the Green Paper will allow for discussion and further definition of the issues at stake, leading to the design of common actions, where appropriate. I know that your expectations are high, and I count on your help in building solutions to support the invaluable contribution that health professionals make to the lives of each and every one of us.
That invitation comes at an opportune moment, as we are now approaching the end of the consultation phase, which will be closed at the end of this month.
It is clear that there are growing pressures on all EU health systems arising from an ageing population, health threats, as well as the rising cost of new technologies and patients’ increased expectations – and all this against the background of a difficult economic situation.
Without a well-trained and motivated health workforce throughout the EU, the financial sustainability of European health systems will be threatened and health inequalities will increase.
As the European population gets older, so does its health workforce, and there are insufficient new recruits coming through to replace those who leave. We need to reflect on the reasons why young people are not motivated to become health workers.
This, coupled with the mobility of health professionals within and between Member States is creating common health workforce problems for most European health systems.
I expect a large number of responses to the Green Paper from the many stakeholder organisations in the field of health that have expressed concerns about this important issue.
I also look forward to receiving contributions from the members of this Parliament. Those will really facilitate our work and serve our common objective.
The analysis of the answers we receive will guide us in developing strategies at EU level to support the Member States in tackling these challenges."@en1
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