Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-01-14-Speech-2-269"
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"en.20030114.8.2-269"2
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"We all want to grow old, but we would prefer not to be old. This is a Dutch expression about the consequences of getting older. After all, age generally comes with ailments. Ailments which, with proper attention and care, a person can live with. This proper attention and care involves people. People who provide the necessary hands-on care. With the support of good policy and the commitment of politicians, this can be accommodated.
Mr Mantovani’s report aims to provide the space to do so from a European perspective. He puts forward a range of proposals based on a great concern about the demographic trend towards an ageing population and the consequences this will have for our health systems. In addition to expressing my appreciation for the report, I would like to indicate why, in my opinion, his proposals lose sight of the reality of care provision. The report is brimming over with the politics of good intentions. Good intentions alone will not, in my opinion, be the mainspring of political and policy-related activities. Certainly not if Europe would have to be given new powers on such a basis. Assigning powers to European institutions is a failure to appreciate the fact that care is provided between people at the micro level.
Promoting good healthcare and exchanging good practices are points I endorse. Also of great importance is the fact that it is made clear that healthcare and care of the elderly must not only be approached from the point of view of what it costs. Elderly people and patients are more than just an item of expense to society.
The number of new policy-coordinating proposals and inventories will not, in my opinion, promote good care and assistance but will rather impede it. In my country there is a lot of discussion about healthcare at the moment. Dozens of rules, procedures and administrative obligations are impeding the work of nurses and carers. If one thing has become clear, it is that we need hands at the bedside and not at the computer. If we also have to comply with European wishes in respect of the provision of information, you will understand that there are few hands left over to actually provide the care.
Although many of Mr Mantovani’s ideas appeal to me, I cannot endorse his report. The report misunderstands the position of the concept of subsidiarity when it comes to the role of Europe and the role of the Member States in these areas of policy. The report furthermore disregards day-to-day practice. Practice is not waiting for new rules from Europe, it is waiting for people who want to do the work.
You will understand that I do not regard the European institutions and the Convention as being assigned a role in the policy areas of care for the elderly and healthcare. I therefore support Mrs Lynne’s amendments concerning scrapping paragraphs 18 and 20. This will ensure that responsibility for healthcare and care for the elderly remains with the national governments. It is there that the parameters are established and a substantive policy can be pursued that enables us to respond to the people’s demand for care. Finally, I would like to point out the importance of interrelationships between people in family, church or home circles. That is where the care is provided in practice, at the micro level. It is pointless worrying about care, you have to go out and do it!"@en1
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