mr president this directive is wonderful in theory but it could turn out to be a nightmare in practice
i say this because it could lead to services getting better in some centres but worse in others
i will give you an example if patients from a small country like cyprus with a neurosurgical problem all go to sweden or britain to have their neurosurgical treatment then what will happen to the neurosurgical services in cyprus
the standards will diminish inevitably and this holds for cardiovascular services for orthopaedic services for oncological services and for many others
so we must be very careful
i fully support this directive but we must make sure that we do not make good centres better and bad centres worse
we must be careful to raise the health standards right across europe in large countries as well as in small countries
