Published 20 November 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a2628
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a2628

News

Devolution weakens UK’s voice in Europe, researcher warns

Lynn Eaton

1 London

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Health experts, rather than the European courts, should be in the driving seat over Europe-wide health matters, argues a report from the Nuffield Trust.

Its author, Scott Greer, assistant professor at the University of Michigan and senior research fellow at the London School of Economics, has looked at how four states in the European Union—the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Spain—engage with the EU and try to influence its health policy.

He warns that the way the UK’s health care is devolved to England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland is undermining the UK’s ability to represent its interests at the European level.

Several healthcare matters are decided at European level, including the hours that professionals can work in health services, coordination of control of infectious disease, standards for professional education, regulation of drugs and devices, and organisation of blood supplies, and the union is playing an increasingly dominant role in . . . [Full text of this article]


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