Website of the Department of Health

Communication from the European Commission: consultation regarding Community action on health services

The European Commission has published a Communication on health services. This document forms a consultation on health services that will run until the end of January 2007.

This Communication is a response to the removal of health care from the scope of the Services Directive, and recent developments in European Court of Justice case law on cross-border patient mobility. These developments have highlighted the need for legal certainty and clarity in the area of cross-border healthcare.

The Communication also looks at possible areas of non-regulatory cooperation at the EU level between Member States, and considers where this might bring added value.

The Department of Health, in response to the European Commission's Communication, is holding a public consultation aimed at non-NHS stakeholders. This is running in conjunction with the NHS Confederation's consultation with NHS Stakeholders. The results of both consultations will form the basis of the UK position on Health Services.

• Download Communication from the Commission - Consultation regarding Community action on health services (PDF, 58K)
• Download DH covering note (PDF, 35K)