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European dentists, pharmacists and doctors welcome the outcome of the negotiations on the proposal for a Directive on a proportionality test as a better balance between the need to safeguard health and the economic objectives of the Directive than the Commission proposal. While not fully addressing our concerns, the final text recognises the special nature of health professions and ensures a sufficient margin of discretion to Member States to guarantee the highest level of human health protection when regulating health professions.
As CED President Dr Marco Landi states “I welcome the decision to refer to Member States’ commitment to ensure a high level of human health protection when it comes to the regulation of healthcare professions, which are also among the most mobile professions in Europe. As we have repeatedly stated, when it comes to patient safety, economic concerns are secondary. ”
PGEU President Jesús Aguilar Santamaría adds that “Member States must ensure access to high quality health care services and safe supply of medicines according to the public health needs of their national demographic, geographical and cultural realities. We believe this compromise will allow Member States to continue protecting public health.”
CPME President Dr Jacques de Haller concludes that “this result is a clear confirmation that Member States can continue to put patient safety first. We now look to Member States to find an approach which uses the margin of discretion the Directive grants. The health professions will continue to monitor the implementation.”
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The Council of European Dentists (CED) is a European not-for-profit association representing over 340,000 dental practitioners across Europe through 32 national dental associations and chambers in 30 European countries. Established in 1961 to advise the European Commission on matters relating to the dental profession, the CED aims to promote high standards on oral healthcare and dentistry with effective patient-safety centred professional practice, and to contribute to safeguarding the protection of public health. The CED is registered in the Transparency Register with the ID number 4885579968-84.
The Standing Committee of European Doctors (CPME) represents national medical associations across Europe. We are committed to contributing the medical profession’s point of view to EU institutions and European policy-making through pro-active cooperation on a wide range of health and healthcare related issues.
-We believe the best possible quality of health and access to healthcare should be a reality for everyone.
-We see the patient-doctor relationship as fundamental in achieving these objectives.
-We are committed to interdisciplinary cooperation among doctors and with other health professions.
-We strongly advocate a ‘health in all policies’ approach to encourage cross-sectorial awareness for and action on the determinants of health.
The Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU) is the association representing community pharmacists in 33 European countries. In Europe over 400.000 community pharmacists provide services throughout a network of more than 160.000 pharmacies, to an estimated 46 million European citizens daily. PGEU’s objective is to promote the role of pharmacists as key players in healthcare systems throughout Europe and to ensure that the views of the pharmacy profession are taken into account in the EU decision-making process.
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