EU: Healthcare

Lord Lexden Excerpts

Wednesday 11th January 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Lexden]

My Lords, there can be no doubt about the importance of the issues which my noble friend Lord Kakkar raised for debate and introduced with his customary eloquence.

As is well known, where the European Union is concerned, the tendency is often for difficult practical issues to be subordinated to well intended political ideals. As the Social Policies and Consumer Protection Sub-Committee, of which I am a member, pointed out in its report on the mobility of healthcare professionals last year, nowhere is it more important for this tendency to be resisted than in matters relating to patient safety.

The sub-committee concluded that the mutual recognition of professional qualifications directive,

“fails to command the confidence of patients and professionals”,

and that the increased desire for mobility, which we all share, was nevertheless resulting in the admittance of individuals who do not meet standards required to be considered to practise in the United Kingdom. We should keep the sub-committee's conclusions firmly in mind and continue to push for the development of a competence-based approach for the recognition of qualifications across the EU.

More positive, to my mind, are EU proposals for enhancing cross-border access to healthcare—proposals that do more justice to the principles of open markets and free movement. The proposals have the potential to reduce waiting times for patients facing unduly long delays. The principle that patient reimbursement should not exceed the value of the cost of the same or equivalent treatments on the NHS should exert pressure to keep the new directive’s costs under control.

As ever, though, we must be vigilant. As the NHS devolves increased local powers to patients and professionals, the importance of thorough and transparent pricing structures becomes greater. It is easy to imagine a situation in which two patients receive differing levels of reimbursement for the same treatment, performed at the same hospital abroad, based on differences in British local costs. It will be hard to justify such differences to the electorate. As we seek improvements in service, we must always be alert to practical difficulties that may arise.