Peers probe Government on EU health policies
The state of play with various EU health policies, including their potential impact in the UK, will be at the heart of the House of Lords Home Affairs, Health and Education EU Sub-Committee, when they question Earl Howe, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Quality at the Department of Health, on Wednesday 21 November.
In a one-off evidence session, the Committee will have the chance to probe Earl Howe on several areas of EU health policy and their impact on the UK healthcare sector.
The Committee will be particularly focussing on:
- Cross-border Healthcare Directive: which gives patients the right to access public or private healthcare in another Member State and is due to be implemented next year;
- Professional Qualifications Directive: which concerns the mobility of healthcare professionals across the EU and is currently being revised;
- Clinical Trials Directive: a proposed Regulation aims to address a number of problems with the operation of the Directive in order to simplify the process for establishing clinical trials across the EU and increase their number;
- Medical Device Regulations: these proposals aim to revise the existing medical device legislation to ensure the safe, effective and innovative use of medical devices; and
- Tobacco Packaging Directive: a forthcoming proposal to amend the existing Directive which regulates the content and labelling of tobacco products in the EU.
The evidence session will take place at 11am on Wednesday 21 November in Committee Room 3 of the House of Lords and will be webcast live at www.parliamentlive.tv.
The evidence session is also open to the public. Journalists wishing to attend should go to Parliament's Cromwell Green Entrance and should allow time for security screening.
