Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-04-27-Speech-3-091"
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to present Parliament’s motion for a resolution on the Commission report on modernising social protection and developing high-quality health care and long-term care. The Commission presented this report to the European Council, Parliament, the Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee last spring. Its main aim was to identify the principle challenges to be overcome by all the health care systems in all the Member States, and to propose joint objectives that could be used as guidelines by the Member States when developing or, potentially, reforming these systems. The open method of coordination is used in identifying common challenges, committing to joint objectives, exchanging views and experience and carrying out joint evaluations of the success of developments in care systems in the individual Member States.
The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, which both discussed the Commission report, took a keen interest in it, as can be seen from the fact that over 100 amendments to my motion for a resolution were tabled. The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs discussed the motion for a resolution in late March and voted on all the amendments that had been tabled, and the motion we have before us today is the end result of that process. In any event, only five amendments have so far been tabled, all of which propose changes that were tabled and rejected by the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs. I am firmly convinced that the House will vote in favour of my motion for a resolution.
If I may, I should now like to make some brief comments on the issues that we discussed. Problems relating to health and long-term care are of central interest to all the EU Member States, and a lively debate on the health care system and its future is taking place in every one of them. Furthermore, I can state without hesitation that health care reforms are either underway or on the drawing board in each of the Member States. Health care affects every member of the public, and that obviously also includes politicians. The provision of high-quality health care that is accessible to everyone who needs it, irrespective of age, status or wealth, is in the public interest, and is therefore a task for politicians. Something else that is in the public interest, and hence also a task for politicians, is maintaining a stable health care system, and by ‘stable’ I mean not only financially stable, but also stable in other respects, for example in terms of staffing, which is a key issue.
The Commission identifies three main challenges in its report, namely the ageing of the population, new technologies for preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic care and the growing expectations of a public that is increasingly aware of health care choices. To these can be added the rising age of health care workers, the fact that these workers are leaving certain countries to work abroad, the increased movement of EU citizens between Member States and the growing levels of immigration from third countries into the EU.
The main objectives proposed by the Commission are high-quality care, accessibility to all and long-term financial sustainability, which would obviate the need for state funding from other budget headings. When the Commission report was discussed in committee, consensus was reached on these challenges and on the joint objectives. Another issue that was highlighted was the question of subsidiarity, the implication of which in the field of health and long-term care is that national governments are fully responsible for developing and reforming health care in the Member States.
We would also stress that prevention is the most effective way of improving public health. The role of patients as clients of health care services is of great significance to Parliament, as patients have the right to decide freely on their health and the care they receive. Following on from this, they also have the right to receive detailed and easy to understand information on health and illness, as well as on health care and its outcomes, possibilities, alternatives and risks. New communications technologies represent both a major challenge and a significant opportunity, as information comes at a premium in the field of health care, and we will be able to achieve higher quality care and a better use of public funds if this information can be shared between individual patients and their doctors.
Something else we would highlight is the key role played by patients, as well as their right to decide and the responsibility they bear for such decisions. Information is an essential requirement for decision-taking, as is cooperation with doctors, even though the latter will always have an advantage in terms of information. This does not, however, give them the right to take decisions for patients. Ladies and gentlemen, I believe that my report and the motion for a resolution I have tabled will be endorsed by the vast majority of Members."@en1
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