05 August 2005
Social care services might soon be opened to regulatory competition from across the European Union, if the Department of Trade and Industry gets its way, Public Finance has learnt.
A draft EU services directive has created a controversy, as its 'country of origin principle' means that companies operating 'temporarily' in one member country need only abide by the standards and regulations of their home nation.
Penny Banks, King's Fund fellow in health and social care, said: 'Care homes and personal care are the rock of services for elderly people, and even domestic providers are not yet reaching national standards.
'So if we'll have other providers coming in not having to meet those standards it'll be extremely worrying and place older people at considerable risk.'
The DTI has sought to reassure opponents by declaring that its negotiating position seeks to exclude 'publicly funded health' from the scope of the directive. But Pat Sellers, director of the service team at the DTI, last week confirmed that social care was not being afforded the same treatment.
'There is a difference between health care and social care services and we're still working at the moment on defining what aspects of social care need derogations [exclusions] from the country of origin principle,' Sellers told a DTI meeting of stakeholders. She added: 'We have to get the right balance between opening up the markets and ensuring all the necessary protections are in place.'
Sellers said that the department's general approach was to minimise the number of exclusions. The inclusion of social care could mean that domiciliary and child care services, and potentially services provided in care homes, would be outside the remit of UK health and safety regulations.
David Walden, director of strategy at the Commission for Social Care Inspection, said: 'Obviously we are concerned that our regulatory safeguards should not be weakened. It appears that service providers would be able to operate by their home country's standards for only a limited period of time. We are working with the DTI, Department of Health and others to ensure we have the necessary safeguards to protect vulnerable people.'
Despite opposition from unions, European Parliament observers – together with DTI officials – expect a coalition of Conservative and Liberal MEPs to vote through a relatively undiluted directive later this year or early next.
The directive would still need to win the support of the Council of Ministers, but the DTI team says it is 'lobbying hard' to ensure the directive is adopted.
PFaug2005
