Doctors' Hours

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 3:28 pm on 21 April 2004.

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Photo of John Hutton John Hutton Minister of State, Department of Health, Minister of State (Department of Health) (Health) 3:28, 21 April 2004

The hon. Gentleman has just tried to make the argument that only the UK faces that particular pressure for additional doctors. I do not know whether he has read the submissions that all the other member states of the European Union have made to the Commission, itemising the difficulties that they face in implementing the directive, but if he has, he will have seen the long list of additional doctors that Germany, France, Sweden, Holland and Italy all require to meet the terms of the SIMAP and Jaeger judgments. This is not just an English problem.