Crossing Borders Update

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1 September 2012 Issue 24 Crossig Borders Update This update icludes iformatio o the EU egotiatios o the proposal amedig the recogitio of professioal qualificatios Directive; opiio pieces o the proposal from differet healthcare professioal orgaisatios across Europe; the HPCB Memoradum of Uderstadig o iformatio sharig; medical educatio reforms i Polad; the Medical Practitioers Tribual Service i the UK; ad the lauch of a support service for iteratioal medical graduates i the Uited States. Cotets EU INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTS Update o the EU egotiatios o the proposal amedig Directive 2005/36/EC 01 Views o the proposal amedig the professioal qualificatios Directive 02 The Sigle Market Week 05 EC article o recogitio of professioal qualificatios Directive 05 EP questios 06 EU istitutioal developmets Update o the EU egotiatios o the proposal amedig Directive 2005/36/EC Europea Parliamet I July, the Europea Parliamet (EP) published two key reports o the recogitio of professioal qualificatios (RPQ) Directive from the Iteral Market ad Cosumer Protectio Committee (IMCO), the EP s lead committee for the proposal, ad the Eviromet, Public Health ad Food Safety Committee (ENVI) which is providig a opiio to the IMCO committee focusig o the patiet safety aspects. The reports have bee drafted by Beradette Vergaud MEP (S&D, Frace) ad Aja Weisgerber MEP (EPP, Germay) respectively. Laguage requiremets The reports propose that competet authorities for healthcare professioals should be able to verify a applicat s laguage competece after recogitio. This would o loger be depedet o a request by a atioal healthcare system or atioal patiet orgaisatio as origially proposed by the Europea Commissio (EC). Europea Professioal Card (EPC) The Europea Commissio proposed that competet authorities be required to process a applicatio for automatic recogitio withi 1 moth ad for geeral systems withi 2 moths uder the EPC. The reports propose to slightly icrease these deadlies: IMCO report the deadlie for host competet authorities to process automatic recogitio applicatios is icreased to five weeks ad for geeral systems to eight weeks. DEVELOPMENTS IN EUROPEAN REGULATION Reform of medical educatio i Polad 06 HPCB MoU o iformatio sharig 07 Lauch of Medical Practitioers Tribual Service i the UK 07 Chagig treds i the pharmacy workforce 07 Chages ahead for postgraduate medical educatio ad traiig i the UK 08 UK has registered hudreds of overseas doctors for the Olympics ad Paralympics Games 09 AROUND THE WORLD New Zealad Medical Coucil lauches review of GMP 09 US lauches support service for IMGs 09 South Africa Pharmacy Coucil cosults o professioal developmet guidace 09 UPCOMING EVENTS Recetly published regulators ewsletters 10 For further iformatio please cotact: Kathry Thomas Healthcare Professioals Crossig Borders 350 Eusto Road Lodo NW1 3JN Tel: hpcb@gmc-uk.org 1

2 ENVI report the deadlie for host competet authorities to process automatic recogitio applicatios is icreased to eight weeks ad for geeral systems to twelve weeks. The ENVI report also proposes to remove the priciple of tacit authorisatio. Alert mechaism Both reports suggest extedig the alert mechaism to all sectoral professios, regardless of their route to recogitio. The ENVI report also proposes to iclude all professios with patiet safety implicatios uder the same alert mechaism. The reports also recommed the extesio of the alert mechaism to cover the exchage of itelligece about idividuals who try to register usig fake diplomas or false idetities. Cotiuous competece The IMCO report proposes to allow competet authorities to itroduce additioal cotrols o professioals post recogitio if they have ot worked for the last 4 years, provided that they are proportioate, o-discrimiatory ad represet o cost to the professioal. Next steps These reports will form a basis for egotiatios with the Europea istitutios. There will be a opportuity for MEPs to table further amedmets to the reports i October ad both committees are scheduled to adopt the fial texts i November. The EP is aimig to adopt its official positio for egotiatig with the Europea Coucil by the ed of the year. Europea Coucil The Europea Coucil has progressed the proposal through workig groups uder the Daish ad Cypriot Presidecies. The professioal card, laguage requiremets ad miimum traiig requiremets have all bee discussed but o commo positio has yet bee reached. The Cypriots have scheduled a further 4 workig groups to discuss the proposal util the ed of the year but it looks ulikely that the Europea istitutios will be i a positio to start egotiatios util Views o the proposal amedig the professioal qualificatios Directive This sectio captures views from differet healthcare professioal orgaisatios across Europe o their views o key aspects of the revisio of the professioal qualificatios Directive. These are ot the views of HPCB but represet a rage of opiios o key themes of the proposal. Europea Professioal Card Joh Chave, Pharmaceutical Group of the Europea Uio The Europea Professioal Card is a well-itetioed attempt to speed up ad facilitate the recogitio process for professioals who wish to exercise their right to practise i aother EU state. The adoptio of the card would have a sigificat impact o curret practice. It would require the home Member State to issue the card followig a aalysis of the professioal s qualificatios, ad subsequet validatio of the card by the host Member State, usig supportig documets uploaded oto the IMI system. It is questioable whether all home Member State authorities are sufficietly resourced to do this (they would have oly two weeks), but i ay evet prudet host Member State authorities will also wish to udertake a thorough aalysis of the supportig documetatio as they curretly do. The iitial issue of the card may ot always make process easier i practice. Accordig to the Commissio s proposal, the host Member State has oly a moth to validate the card. I have ot spoke to ay authorities who believe a moth is a adequate time period to assess a applicatio. Moreover, if (as will ofte be the case), the host eeds to request more iformatio from the home state, a time extesio is ot available. The Directive also provides that if the time periods are exceeded, the card is deemed to be validated ad recogitio grated. This would i may cases prevet host authorities from properly exercisig their resposibility. There would be sigificat dager that usuitable professioals could be grated recogitio by default. It is ofte said there eeds to be a balace betwee facilitatig movemet, ad esurig appropriate checks. The professioal card has the potetial to make a positive cotributio i this respect. But i the health sector, the balace must be weighted very strogly toward appropriate checks ad protectig patiets. Lives are potetially at risk. The curret proposal has ot got the balace right. 2

3 Nurses ad midwives geeral educatio: 10 vs 12 years? Mr Raul Ferades, Portuguese Order of Nurses The Europea Commissio proposal amedig Directive 2005/36/EC o the recogitio of professioal qualificatios has suggested updatig the requiremet of geeral educatio for urses ad midwives to 12 years, which geerated sigificat debate i Europe despite global cosesus o the issue. Both professios have sigificatly evolved i the last three decades: commuity-based healthcare; the use of more complex therapies; ad the developmet of ew techology have led to icreased resposibilities for urses ad midwives. 1 However, the traiig requiremets for urses icluded i Directive 2005/36/EC remaied uchaged from Directive 77/453/EEC, which was published 35 years ago. Europea cosesus i this area is easily demostrated as 25 Member States already require 12 years of geeral educatio prior to ursig traiig 2 ad 16 Member States oly trai geeral care urses at Uiversity Level. 3 The WHO Europe has stated 4 the eed to improve iitial ad cotiuig educatio ad access to higher ursig ad midwifery educatio so that urses ad midwives could work efficietly ad to their full potetial. Some have suggested that the plas to icrease the legth of geeral educatio would move youg studets away from these professios, 5 however evidece suggests that updatig ursig traiig attracts more studets 6 ad reduces early exit from the professio. 7 Several reports have idicated the added value of well-traied urses to healthcare systems ad patiet safety. 8 The Commissio proposal oly lacks the ambitio to go further ad require that these professios have the same etry requiremets as other studets eterig Uiversity traiig. 1 Proposal for a DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL amedig Directive 2005/36/EC o the recogitio of professioal qualificatios ad Regulatio o admiistrative cooperatio through the Iteral Market Iformatio System. 2 Europea Federatio of Nurses EFN EVIDENCE REPORT ON DIRECTIVE 36 NURSING EDUCATION FROM 10 TO 12 YEARS Jauary Europea Commissio; SURVEY ON THE TRAINING OF GENERAL CARE NURSES IN THE EUROPEAN UNION; July 2012 (ot available olie). 4 WHO Europe - MUNICH DECLARATION: NURSES AND MIDWIVES: A FORCE FOR HEALTH; IMCO Committee video 6 Ordem dos Efermeiros - SURVEY ON THE PROFESSIONAL SITUATION OF YOUNG NURSES IN PORTUGAL 2010 Portugal, page Next Study Group - LOW-PERCEIVED WORK ABILITY, AGEING AND INTENTION TO LEAVE NURSING: A COMPARISON AMONG 10 EUROPEAN COUNTRIES Uiversity of Wuppertal Germay Europea Federatio of Nurses EFN EVIDENCE REPORT ON DIRECTIVE 36 NURSING EDUCATION FROM 10 TO 12 YEARS Jauary 2012 Laguage requiremets Kaisa Immoe-Charalambous, Europea Patiets Forum Effective commuicatio with patiets ad colleagues is essetial for all healthcare professioals to esure patiet safety ad high quality care. The Europea Patiets Forum (EPF) has bee strogly advocatig the eed to stregthe the provisios o laguage testig i the cotext of the revisio of the professioal qualificatios Directive. We are pleased that the Europea Commissio has reflected this cocer i its legislative proposal ad suggests applyig stricter provisios to all professios with implicatios for patiet safety. However, the provisios for laguage testig should be further stregtheed. Assessmet of laguage should be separate from the recogitio of qualificatios; the check should be madatory ad, while it could take place before or after recogitio, it should always be a precoditio for a health professioal to practise. Moreover, we feel it is importat to defie competece requiremets at a atioal level for differet health professioals. I our positio paper we recommed that such requiremets should be developed by the atioal health system this would help esure cosistet stadards, eve if i practice the tests were delivered through differet bodies or employers. How to esure that the laguage skills of health professioals meet the real-life eeds of patiets? Ask them! Health professioals eed to uderstad the way patiets speak, ad they eed to speak the kid of laguage that patiets uderstad. Patiet orgaisatios have a wealth of expertise i this area, ad EPF believes they ca play a key role i the developmet of criteria for laguage kowledge i their respective Member States, to esure patiets beefit from high quality care ad that their safety is ever compromised. 3

4 The alert mechaism: a key patiet safety ehacemet Phillippa Hetsch, Europea Network of Medical Competet Authorities Accurate ad timely iformatio exchage betwee Member States lies at the heart of a safe ad effective system for the recogitio of professioal qualificatios ad the movemet of doctors across Europe. There is curretly a good level of commuicatio betwee medical competet authorities through the Iteral Market Iformatio (IMI) system at the poit of registratio but very little iformatio is exchaged proactively about a doctor s right ad fitess to practise beyod this. Our experiece is that doctors, ad other professioals, ofte maitai simultaeous registratio i multiple coutries. This meas that, i the absece of ay mechaism to share iformatio proactively, a doctor might be suspeded from practice i oe Member State but is able to cotiue practisig i aother. This is why the alert mechaism proposed i the revised recogitio of professioal qualificatios Directive is so importat ad why we cosider it as a key ehacemet to improve trust ad cofidece i the system. We are callig o the Europea istitutios to esure that the alert mechaism covers all doctors, regardless of whether they beefit from automatic recogitio or geeral systems ad irrespective of whether they have a basic medical or specialist qualificatio. We believe all iformatio about doctors should be treated with the same urgecy. We are also callig for the alert mechaism to be exteded to cover the exchage of itelligece about idividuals that try to register with fake diplomas or false idetities. This would provide greater reassurace to competet authorities that the doctors they register are appropriately qualified. Fially, we suggest that competet authorities be ivolved i the developmet of the alert mechaism through delegated acts. Give that they will be resposible for issuig ad respodig to the alerts, it is essetial for them to be ivolved i its desig ad implemetatio. Use of delegated ad implemetig acts Cédric Grolleau, Frech Detal Coucil (ONCD) The Lisbo Treaty itroduced a ew system for delegatig implemetig powers to the Commissio through Regulatios ad Directives, which will be applicable from 2014 owards. These implemetig powers are defied as Delegated Acts ad Implemetig Acts; the Treaty cosiders they are olegislative acts. I the case of the proposal to revise Directive 2005/36/ EC o the recogitio of professioal qualificatios, the revisio suggests that delegated ad implemetig acts be used for the developmet of the professioal card, implemetatio of the alert mechaism ad developmet of competeces for the sectoral professios. Give the diverse use so far of the implemetig powers i other Directives ad Regulatios, the legislative framework proposed by this proposal is far from beig set i stoe. Some importat details remai to be defied for health professioal recogitio, i particular: The Commissio s ability to adopt delegated acts is idefiite uder the curret draft Article 58a however the duratio of this madate must be set out i the Directive, i accordace with Lisbo Treaty requiremets. Criteria should be itroduced to limit the scope of the Commissio s implemetig powers. The Lisbo Treaty states that o-legislative acts are admissible to the extet that they cover certai oessetial elemets of the legislative act ad that the essetial elemets of a area shall be reserved for the legislative act ad accordigly shall ot be subject of a delegatio of power. Uder the curret proposal it s uclear whether these coditios are met regardig the Commissio s madate to adapt the traiig cotet of health professios to scietific ad techical progress. To remedy the situatio, the proposal should esure that prior cosultatio with health bodies is udertake - as suggested by may health professios ad health competet authorities - but, more importatly, it should also defie the essetial ad o-essetial elemets of healthcare professioal traiig proposed i the Directive ad Aex V. The Lisbo Treaty gives the Europea Parliamet ad Coucil greater oversight over the Commissio s use of delegated acts. However, the details of this safeguard have to be clearly defied i the revised Directive to eable the istitutios to carry out their check properly. (The views expressed are those of the author ad do ot ecessarily represet the views of the Frech Detal Coucil) 4

5 Commo Traiig Frameworks Sarah Eldred, FORE The Forum for Osteopathic Regulatio i Europe (FORE) has always welcomed freedom of movemet across the EU, but ot if this threates the safety of patiets ad the public. As a professio regulated i oly six Europea coutries, we have faced a umber of challeges followig the implemetatio of the professioal qualificatios Directive i 2007, icludig the cosequeces of a lack of cosesus o stadards of osteopathic educatio, traiig ad practice across Europe. For this reaso we welcome the Commissio s proposal to replace commo platforms, which we were ot coviced could be developed ad effectively implemeted i the absece of regulatio. We are iterested, therefore, to fid out more about the ew proposal for commo traiig frameworks which would ope up the possibility of automatic recogitio to other professios. Alogside the Commissio s ow proposal o commo traiig frameworks, FORE has already embarked upo a three-year project, with the Europea Federatio of Osteopaths, to develop pa-europea stadards through collaboratio with the Europea Committee of Stadardisatio (CEN). 1 While volutary stadards do exist, 2 stroger regulatory mechaisms are eeded. Oce agreed, this CEN stadard, which is curretly a workig draft, will ot override atioal laws goverig the practice of osteopathy, but would provide a stadard of patiet care expected of osteopaths i those coutries without ay form of formalised regulatio. This project should be ready for implemetatio i Europea Framework for Stadards of Osteopathic Practice, FORE 2007; Europea Framework for Stadards of Osteopathic Practice, FORE 2007; Europea Framework for Stadards of Osteopathic Educatio ad Traiig, FORE Europea medical orgaisatios publish joit statemet Eight Europea medical orgaisatios have issued a joit statemet followig the publicatio of the EP reports o the proposal to amed the professioal qualificatios Directive. The Europea Associatio of Seior Hospital Physicias, the Europea Workig Group of Practitioers ad Specialists i Free Practice, the Europea Coucil of Medical Orders, the Europea Juior Doctors Permaet Workig Group, the Stadig Committee of Europea the Doctors, Europea Medical Studets Associatio, the Europea Federatio of Salaried Doctors, the Europea Uio of GPs/Family Specialists have called for home Member States to retai the fial decisio o recogitio ad for the priciple of tacit authorisatio ad partial access to be removed. The Sigle Market Week: celebratig 20 Years of the Sigle Market To celebrate the 20th aiversary of the Europea Sigle Market, the Europea Commissio has orgaised its secod aual Sigle Market Week from October 2012, with evets takig place i cities across the 27 Member States. The week aims to brig together Europea citizes ad busiesses with MEPs ad other EU istitutios ad represetatives from Member States to celebrate ad reflect o the past, preset ad future of the Sigle Market. The Sigle Market Week will be lauched with a major evet i Brussels o October 15, citizes from across Europe will have the opportuity to take a seat i the Hemicycle of the Europea Parliamet to share their experieces ad express views o 20 years of the Europea Sigle Market. The evet will be focused o real stories ad experieces of people ad busiesses from across the EU. Europea Commissio article o recogitio of professioal qualificatios Directive The July editio of Eurohealth, a quarterly publicatio that focuses o key issues i health policy across Europe, icludes a article from Jürge Tiedje ad Adras Zsigmod from the EC o the professioal qualificatios Directive. The article provides helpful clarity ad cotext o a umber of the proposals icluded i the Directive. For example, o the issue of tacit authorisatio, the article clarifies that if a competet authority fails to respod to a recogitio request withi the specified timeframe, the qualificatio would be automatically recogised, but this would ot costitute automatic authorisatio to practise with the host competet authority. Tiedje J, Zsigmod A. How to moderise the professioal qualificatios directive. Eurohealth 2012;18(2): Available here. 5

6 EP questios EP questio o multiligualism i Europe Mr Ramo Tremosa i Balcells MEP (Spai, ALDE) has asked the EC s view o laguage-related difficulties i the Europea health system. The questio highlighted that oly 42% of Europeas are competet i a first foreig laguage ad that this poses a challege whe accessig healthcare abroad. The Commissioer for Educatio, Culture, Multiligualism, Sport, Media ad Youth, Adroulla Vassiliou oted that the Commissio has attempted to address some of these challeges ad has created Health EU, a iteret portal which provides iformatio o health services i Europe so that patiets ca make more iformed decisios about their healthcare i aother coutry. Questio o Europea professioal associatios Aldo Patriciello MEP (EPP) has asked the EC how it plas to esure greater uiformity betwee Europea professioal associatios ad has called for educatioal requiremets to be stadardised across Europe. I respose, Commissioer Barier highlighted the mutual evaluatio mechaism, which has bee suggested i the EC s RPQ proposal, which will require Member States to record which professios require a specific qualificatio; justify the eed for regulatig these professios; ad evaluate them o a comparative basis with other Member States. Developmets i Europea regulatio Reform of medical educatio i Polad Arleta Zaremba, Miistry of Health, Polad The Polish Govermet has recetly decided to revise the educatio ad traiig system for doctors ad detists. The chage has a umber of aims to eable more doctors ad detists to eter the health care system quicker ad to icrease patiet access to specialised health care services. I order to achieve these goals, the postgraduate itership which doctors ad detists are curretly required to udertake after completio of their degree will be replaced with practical traiig durig the last year of udergraduate study. This will eable doctors ad detists to eter the workforce oe year earlier tha uder the previous system. State examiatios will also be ameded ad specialist traiig will become modular to esure greater flexibility i traiig ad to shorte the time required to become a specialist. From 2012 doctors basic medical educatio will cosist of six years at uiversity culmiatig i a fial state examiatio, rather tha the previous system of six years study followed by a oe year itership ad a state examiatio. Udergraduate detal educatio will follow a similar patter, with the fial year of study beig replaced with practical traiig. Detal degrees will be five years i legth, followed by a fial state exam. Reforms to the specialty traiig system will see a ew, modular system itroduced, which will chage the curret way specialties are classed. Uder the plaed chages, specialties will be developed ito basic ad specific (subspecialties) categories. The traiig will cosist of a basic module, which will iclude basic theoretical kowledge ad practical skills required for medicie. After completio of the basic specialty traiig, practitioers will be required to complete the relevat specialised module i order to gai recogitio i a subspecialty. The Miistry is still explorig whether traiig for certai specialties will be ru as a sigle module. 6

7 HPCB Memoradum of Uderstadig o iformatio sharig The HPCB Memoradum of Uderstadig o iformatio sharig was draw up i 2007 i the cotext of the mutual assistace requiremets provided for i Directive 2005/36/ EC o the recogitio of professioal qualificatios. It sets out the practical arragemets for the exchage of iformatio betwee Europea competet authorities. There are curretly 11 sigatories udertakig both reactive ad proactive iformatio sharig ad a additioal 3 sigatories udertakig reactive iformatio exchage oly. As a sigatory of the MoU ad the secretariat for HPCB, the Geeral Medical Coucil (GMC) has udertake a iteral evaluatio to assess the extet to which it complies with the MoU commitmets. We would ecourage other sigatories to carry out your ow review; esure that the cotact details listed for your orgaisatio are up to date, ad to let us kow about ay challeges you have ecoutered with meetig the commitmets outlied i the MoU. Lauch of Medical Practitioers Tribual Service i the UK I Jue 2012, the GMC lauched a ew tribual service for doctors as part of its fitess to practise reform programme. The Medical Practitioers Tribual Service (MPTS) is a ew impartial adjudicatio fuctio for doctors, which is part of the GMC but operatioally separate from its complait hadlig, ivestigatio ad case presetatio fuctios. The MPTS is led by His Hoour David Pearl, a idepedetly appoited Chair, ad will take over all fitess to practise cases relatig to registered doctors ad make decisios o what actio is eeded to protect patiets. It was set up to ehace cofidece i the professio ad patiets i the impartiality of decisio makig. MPTS paels ca, i the most serious cases, remove or susped a doctor from the UK medical register or place restrictios o their practise. It ca also take early actio to esure patiet safety by cosiderig cases before a full fitess to practise hearig, where it may be appropriate to place restrictios o a doctor s practise immediately or susped their practice while ivestigatios proceed. This provides a importat safeguard should allegatios agaist the doctor be cosidered to preset a risk to the public. Chagig treds i the pharmacy workforce Damia Day, Geeral Pharmaceutical Coucil (UK) A ew aalysis of the register of pharmacists commissioed by the Geeral Pharmaceutical Coucil (GPhC) has foud that the pharmacy workforce is becomig more diverse, but there has bee a drop i the umber of pharmacists o the register who qualified overseas. The aalysis by the Cetre for Pharmacy Workforce Studies at the Uiversity of Machester foud that the umber of overseas-qualified pharmacists o the register i 2011 had falle slightly sice 2010, from 6130 (12.1% of the register) to 5460 (11.8% of the register). This was maily caused by the removal of all o-practisig pharmacists from the register betwee 2010 ad 2011, icludig those who had qualified overseas. A sigificat umber of overseas-qualified pharmacists had maitaied their registratio eve after leavig Great Britai, but these pharmacists were o loger eligible for registratio after the closure of the register for o-practisig pharmacists i This meas that although there has bee a overall drop i the umber of registered pharmacists who qualified overseas, there has bee a icrease i the proportio itedig to practise i Great Britai. Over 22% of ew registrats i 2011 were overseas-qualified, a slightly higher proportio tha i The majority of these (65.4%) came from Europe. The aalysis also foud that there has bee a 5% icrease i the umber of pharmacists from a black or miority ethic backgroud o the register betwee 2010 ad 2011, from 34% to 39%. The proportio of pharmacists who are female is also cotiuig to grow steadily, with female pharmacists ow makig up 59% of the register. The GPhC has commissioed a similar aalysis of the pharmacy techicia workforce for the first time, followig the itroductio last year of compulsory registratio for pharmacy techicias. This aalysis will be available later this year. The GPhC plas to use this kowledge of the chagig profile of the pharmacy professios to help improve the way they work as the regulator. 7

8 Chages ahead for postgraduate medical educatio ad traiig i the UK Vicky Osgood, Secretary of Shape of Traiig Review, Assistat Director, Postgraduate Educatio, GMC Postgraduate medical educatio ad traiig i the UK has evolved alogside the structure ad demads of the Natioal Health Service over the last 60 years. I additio, chages to the healthcare system, doctors roles ad resposibilities have evolved to take accout of chagig medical ad scietific advaces, evolvig healthcare ad populatio eeds, the iformatio ad commuicatios techology (ICT) revolutio ad ever chagig patiet ad public expectatios. These chages ievitably will have a effect o doctors traiig. Recet years have see sigificat developmets i UK medical educatio ad traiig followig recommedatios made i a umber of reports. Satisfactio with curret medical educatio ad traiig i the UK remais high, ad cotiues to improve, as highlighted i the 2011 Natioal Traiee Survey. The overall satisfactio score for traiig has rise from 78.8 (out of a possible 100) i 2011 to 80.4 i Other figures showed that Nearly 99% of traiees said they had a desigated supervisor, resposible for reviewig their educatioal progressio ad almost 92% had discussed their objectives with them. 81% of traiees said they would rate the quality of cliical supervisio as excellet or good. Almost 87% of traiees said someoe explaied their role ad resposibilities i their uit or departmet at the start of their post. But these reports also poited to the pressig eed for further reform if educatio ad traiig is to support society s chagig eeds. I 2007, the idepedet iquiry ito Moderisig Medical Careers, led by Sir Joh Tooke, made a umber of recommedatios about the shape ad structure of postgraduate medical educatio ad traiig i the UK. It called for a more flexible ad broad based approach to medical traiig; itegratig both traiig ad service objectives ito workforce plaig. Followig o from the Tooke report, other iquiries also poited to the eed for more flexibility i traiig i order to equip doctors to respod better to the chagig eeds of patiets ad the service. I respose to these cocers, i February 2012, the Shape of Traiig review of postgraduate medical educatio ad traiig was established. This idepedet iitative is joitly sposored by seve bodies ivolved i postgraduate medical educatio across the UK: the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, the Geeral Medical Coucil, Medical Educatio Eglad, the Medical Schools Coucil, NHS Scotlad, NHS Wales, ad the Norther Irelad Departmet of Health, Social Services ad Public Safety. Professor David Greeaway, Vice-Chacellor of Nottigham Uiversity, has bee appoited by the Shape of Traiig Sposorig Board to lead the review. The Shape of Traiig Review will look at whether curret traiig cotiues to meet the eeds of patiets ad the service as a whole ad whether traiees are appropriately prepared for practice ow ad i the future. It will also evaluate optios to support flexibility icludig how doctors could retrai durig their careers. The review will focus o five themes: 1 Workforce eeds specialists or geeralists? 2 The breadth ad scope of traiig 3 The eeds of the health service 4 The eeds of the patiet 5 Flexibility of traiig. The project will lauch a ope call for evidece i late October 2012 which is iteded to gather views ad experieces o the shape of postgraduate medical educatio ad traiig. Further iformatio about the review ad the call for evidece ca be foud o the review s website: 8

9 UK registers hudred of overseas doctors to support the Olympics ad Paralympics Games Lodo 2012 Olympic ad Paralympic doctors 141 differet coutries 849 doctors registered i total The GMC cotributed to the Lodo Olympics by assistig overseas doctors with their medical registratio, eablig them support their athletes durig the Olympic ad Paralympics Games. Temporary registratio was grated to 849 doctors 83% male ad 17% female - from 141 coutries. This is the largest umber of doctors the GMC registered for a sigle evet. Frace registered the highest umber of doctors (58) to support their 333 Olympic athletes. Next was Brazil who registered 50 doctors for their 259 athletes, followed by the US who registered 46 doctors for 530 athletes. Spai, Frace (58) Brazil (50) Germay (38) USA (46) Spai (32) Japa (27) Polad (24) Polad, Caada, Australia, Croatia, Russia ad Swede registered betwee 10 ad 35 doctors. More tha 40 applicatios were also either withdraw or rejected by the GMC icludig oe by Mexico for a vet ad aother by Veezuela for a masseuse! These doctors were oly allowed to treat o-uk atioals for the duratio of the Games. The GMC will be developig a good practice paper for regulators, outliig how we maaged the process. Aroud the world New Zealad Medical Coucil lauches review of Good Medical Practice guidelies The Medical Coucil of New Zealad has lauched a cosultatio o their draft revisio of Good Medical Practice. Some of the chages they pla iclude: A ew sectio o professioalism that outlies the key duties ad competecies that should uderpi all good professioal practice. Specific guidace o ed of life care. Itroducig a ew duty regardig the protectio ad welfare of vulerable patiets, ad the reportig of abuse. The cosultatio closes o 12 October 2012 ad the Coucil is seekig feedback from doctors, patiets ad other agecies egaged i medical regulatio. US lauches support service for IMGs The Educatioal Commissio for Foreig Medical Graduates (ECFMG) has lauched a ew programme which provides a support service to ECFMG-certified doctors. The ECFMG Certificate Holders Office (ECHO) will provide free guidace at key milestoes, such as applyig to graduate medical programmes, obtaiig a medical licese ad medical speciality certificatio. ECFMG evaluates whether IMGs are ready to eter the US health system. Curretly overseas traied doctors make up more tha oe quarter of the US medical workforce. South Africa Pharmacy Coucil cosults o professioal developmet guidace The Pharmacy Coucil i South Africa is cosultig o cotiuig professioal developmet regulatios. This gives the Coucil power to assess o a ad-hoc basis, the compliace of registered pharmacists. If a practitioer is foud to be o-compliat, the Coucil has the power to erase them from the register. 9

10 Upcomig evets 2 5 October 2012 Iteratioal Associatio of Medical Regulatory Authorities 2012 Coferece, Ottawa 8 October 2012 Eviromet, Public Health ad Food Safety (ENVI) committee deadlie for amedmets to the RPQ proposal October 2012 Europea Coucil workig group o RPQ proposal 15 October 2012 Iteral Market ad Cosumer Protectio (IMCO) committee deadlie for amedmets to the RPQ proposal October 2012 Sigle Market Week May 2013 Iteratioal Coucil of Nurses 25th Quadreial Cogress Recetly published regulators ewsletters GMC Studet ews Geeral Medical Coucil GMC News Geeral Medical Coucil NMC Review Nursig ad Midwifery Coucil GDC update Geeral Detal Coucil HCPC ewsletter Health & care professio coucil Frech Order of Doctors ewsletter Eurohealth IAMRA e-news If you would like to cotribute a piece to the ext Crossig Borders Update please cotact the HPCB secretariat. 10