UK healthcare professional regulators have called for the European Commission to propose a new legal duty on bodies with similar roles across Europe to exchange disciplinary and registration information about healthcare professionals and to act on it.

Media attention around healthcare in Europe has largely, to date, focused on the potential for increased numbers of patient 'tourists'. However, there is already a significant level of mobility of healthcare professionals across European borders. In 2005, over 7,000 practitioners from the EEA came to the UK to register with members of the Alliance of UK Health Regulators on Europe (AURE), a coalition of all ten UK health and social care professional regulators, and find work.

This call has been made in a joint response to the European Commission's consultation regarding Community Action on Health Services by AURE members.

Hew Mathewson, President of the UK's General Dental Council, one of AURE's coalition members said, “With this scale of mobility of dentists, nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals across European borders, much greater information needs to be made available to patients, the public and health professionals alike. National regulators must be enabled to facilitate this free moment, but also to ensure the safety of patients and the public.”