Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with other EU member states concerning the impact on NHS patients of the introduction of the European Professional Card for healthcare professionals.

The aim of the European Professional Card (EPC) is to simplify and streamline the recognition of professional qualifications process for the applicant. Improving the freedom of movement of professionals will give the National Health Service greater access to a range of skills to the benefit of patients.

For health and care professions, the EPC will be introduced for nurses, pharmacists and physiotherapists in 2016. It will not be introduced for doctors until 2018 at the earliest. The EPC will be introduced through an Implementing Act.

The Department was involved in extensive negotiations with the European Commission and other Member States during the development of the Implementing Act and was successful in achieving a number of positive changes including increasing access to translations of documents, and ensuring that authorities can challenge the issuance of an EPC in another Member State under ‘justifiable circumstances’, which will be an important patient safety mechanism. We will continue to work with the health and care regulators and the Commission during the implementation process to mitigate any risks.

The United Kingdom was also successful in receiving a commitment from the Commission that they will undertake an early review to ensure that any issues are resolved before the EPC is rolled out to any additional professions.