European Commission and patient representative give evidence to the Lords
7 July 2011
Jonathan Faull, Director General for Internal Market and Services for the European Commission and Ruth Marsden, the Vice Chair of the National Association of LINks Members (NALM) appeared before the House of Lords Social Policies and Consumer Protection EU Sub-Committee on Thursday 7 July. The Committee is investigating the Directive which regulates the mobility of professionals, including healthcare professionals, within the EU
- Parliament TV: Mobility of healthcare professionals
- Inquiry: Mobility of healthcare professionals
- EU Sub-Committee G - Social Policies and Consumer Protection
Ms Marsden's organisation, NALM, is an association of people who are active and experienced in patient and public involvement in health and social care and are members of LINks networks.
The committee asked Ms Marsden questions on issues such as:
- Patients' concerns about non-UK healthcare professionals language abilities and the quality of their training
- Whether the introduction of a European Professional Card would be welcomed
Before Ms Marsden's evidence the committee heard from Jonathan Faull via videolink.
The committee heard from the GMC and NMC that the Directive as it currently stands is forcing them to register doctors, nurses and midwives who would not be admitted if they were UK applicants. The committee put these points to the Commission. Other questions to Mr Faull were:
- How the European Commission will ensure that disparities of training across the EU are taken into account for the purposes of automatic recognition
- What the European Commission can do to help Member states overcome some of the current legal and practical barriers about sharing fitness to practice information
The evidence sessions took place on Thursday 7 July. The European Commissions' video-linked evidence session began at 9.45am, with NALM at 10.30am. Both sessions took place in Committee Room 1 of the House of Lords.