Opposition grows to EU Services Directive:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
In the UK, the Forum of Private Businesses has added its voice to the British Medical Association (see Clinica No 1131, p 5) in calling for a tightening up of the proposed European Services Directive, which, it says, could have a "profound impact" on the healthcare sector. In it present form, the Directive is so complex, FTB's head of policy, Alison Fletcher says, that it would succeed "only in creating more rather than fewer barriers for companies providing services. It is the Independent Doctors' Forum that has brought the attention of the FTB to the issue pointing out the potential of the Directive to affect health and social services, responsibilities that are currently outside the competence of the EU. One big fear is that doctors from outside the country may set up in the UK without having to comply with UK rules and this would lead to an erosion of healthcare standards.