Nordic cooperation meeting focused on cross-border mobility of health care professionals

The Nordic Group for Healthcare Personnel, a convocation of supervisory authorities for professionals’ right to practise, met at a virtual meeting chaired by Valvira on 26 November. The discussion focused particularly on removing unnecessary border control obstacles to the mobility of health care professionals between the Nordic countries and on related challenges caused by amendments to the Nordic agreement.
 
There was also talk of how to interpret EU legislation and how judgments issued by EU and EFTA courts affect the practices of authorities in the Nordic countries.
 
The Nordic Group for Healthcare Personnel is a collaborative body whose purpose is to promote patient safety for instance by enhancing information exchange. In practice, this information exchange concerns matters such as regulated health care professions in the various countries and supervisory data. The Group meets twice a year.
 
The members of the Group are experts in supervisory matters involved in dealing with the right to practise in health care professions at Valvira in Finland and at corresponding supervisory authorities in the other Nordic countries. This meeting was attended by the regular members and also an observer member from Åland and a representative of the Nordic Council of Ministers.
 
Finland holds the Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2021. This meeting was the second during Finland’s Presidency. Joint meetings of Nordic supervisory authorities are chaired by Valvira.
 
Further information:

Jenni Kangas, Head of Unit, tel. +358 (0)295 209 532