Mobile medics? The mobility of doctors in the European Economic Area

The Treaty of Rome seeks to generate a common European market whereby all barriers to the free movement of produce, capital, services and labour are removed. Current EU policy on the free movement of labour requires that healthcare workers, who are EU citizens and meet certain training criteria, have the right to register to practice in member states other than the one in which they trained. This policy is underpinned by the EEC Directives. For example, the Medical Directive 93/16/EEC describes the framework for the mutual recognition of medical diplomas, certificates and other evidence of qualifications through out the European Economic Area (EEA). The potential impact of this for health policy is clear-workforce planning and the demand for doctors, (and also nurses and other health care professionals), could be particularly affected by new forces impacting on their supply. This paper reports on the reality of labour mobility today, and on the factors upon which mobility depends, by the means of a case study which, investigated the movement into UK of doctors from the EEA. At a formal level there is mutual recognition of diplomas, certificates and other evidence of qualifications. However, formal and 'real life' recognition could be in tension equating in policy terms to an implementation deficit. As a result, there is a 'mixed picture' which makes predicting the future (both for individual countries and for the European Union) even more difficult. Furthermore, different policy objectives have to be reconciled. Do we want high mobility; or do we want to preserve national manpower planning?