Leave us alone on healthcare service provision, UK tells EC:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
There are growing concerns about the way in which the proposed EU Services Directive could impact healthcare provision at the national level. In the UK, the British Medical Association is calling for healthcare to be excluded from the scope of the Directive as it fears that there could otherwise be a lowering of standards among doctors in the UK and too much of a business orientation in the provision of healthcare. It is said to have the support of UK government ministers and of governments in other countries too. Although the European Commission claims that it does not intend to tell countries how to run their health services, it is proposing under the Directive that member states would need to justify any proposed changes to their health service rules, and prove them to be "non-discriminatory, necessary or proportional." The BMA is to lobby MEPs on this issue ahead of a public hearing on the proposed Directive, scheduled for November 11 in Brussels.