Euro Brief 8
August 2007
- Upcoming EU policies and initiatives
- Conference - Reducing alcohol related harm
- Draft recommendations on e-Health interoperability
- Medical intelligence system to tackle public health threats
- Use of electronic chips in e-Health
- Mid term review of biotechnology action plan
- New TV campaign promoting physical activity
The European institutions are in recess this month, however we can expect a raft of new initiatives and conferences for the remaining half of the year. The European Commission is expected to publish its long delayed mental health strategy in the early autumn which will contain a number of new policy proposals. The Commission is also expected to take forward work on the nutritional labelling of food products.
Perhaps the main issue for coming months is the forthcoming proposal for a Directive on healthcare services. The proposal will cover the topic of patient mobility and is likely to be presented to EU health ministers in December. The BMA has contributed greatly to the debate on healthcare services over the past year and will be following this issue very closely.
Ministers will also attempt to resolve the long standing issue of working time. The Portuguese Presidency is holding bilateral talks with Member States with a view to agreeing a compromise agreement in December. This new impetus has been made possible by the change in leadership in France which is now more amenable to supporting the UK retention of the opt-out.
In October, the EU will publish its long awaited health strategy which will underpin all of the EU’s action in health matters. Furthermore, the new EU Reform Treaty is expected to be finalised at a meeting of EU Heads of State in October.
In November, the Commission will publish a policy paper examining social services of general interest which covers issues such as the provision of home help and respite homes. There may also be new proposals around needlestick injuries and patient information (direct to consumer advertising).
The Portuguese EU Presidency will be hosting a number of conferences in the coming months including:
‘Evaluation of Public Policies and Programmes in the field of Drugs and Drug Addiction’: 19-20 September
‘Health and Migration: Better health for All in an Inclusive Society’: Lisbon, 27-28 September
Pharmaceutical Innovation – a new R&D Strategy’: 19-20 November
Early 2008 should see a number of new initiatives including proposals on implementing an EU-wide smoke free environment, the review of the Common Agricultural Policy (with the resulting impact on subsidies for healthy food and tobacco growers), and a communication on the consequences of climate change on health. It has also been confirmed that one of the key overarching themes of EU action in health during 2008 will be patient safety.
Conference - Reducing alcohol related harm
The Royal College of Physicians is hosting a conference in London on 13 November entitled ‘Reducing the harm caused by alcohol: a coordinated European response’. The conference aims to bring together representatives from the UK and European medical professionals to share the latest evidence and experience. Moreover, it will produce a conference charter for a coordinated response to reduce the harm caused by alcohol in Europe. For further information, please see:
http://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/event/details.aspx?e=937
MEPs are due to adopt their official response to the European Commission’s strategy to reduce alcohol related harm at their next meeting on 5 September.
Draft recommendations on e-Health interoperability
The European Commission has adopted a set of draft recommendations on e-Health interoperability which outlines a set of guidelines for good practice and proposes a number of actions addressed to associations that work in the field of e-Health. The lack of interoperability in systems and services, such as electronic health records, patient summaries, and emergency data sets, has been identified as a major obstacle to the widespread take-up of e-Health applications in the EU. The draft is available for consultation until 10 September 2007 with a final set of recommendations expected to be adopted at the end of the year. The draft can be viewed at:
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/document.cfm?action=display&doc_id=369
Medical intelligence system to tackle public health threats
The European Commission has developed a medical intelligence system that collects and sorts information from more than 1000 news and 120 public health websites in 32 languages. The system, called MediSys, will provide health authorities with real-time knowledge about disease outbreaks or industrial accidents, thereby helping to identify such incidents as early as possible and so react in a timely way. It can also provide information to authorities tackling a major incident such as a bio-terrorist attack. The website can be viewed at:
http://medusa.jrc.it/medisys/homeedition/all/home.html
Use of electronic chips in e-Health
The European Commission is to study the options for using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology in healthcare. The technology could be used to identify patients in hospitals and for tagging pharmaceutical products. A recent consultation on the issue highlighted concerns over privacy and environmental risks as the main obstacles to use of the technology. For further information, please see:
http://www.rfidconsultation.eu/41/online
Mid term review of biotechnology action plan
The European Commission has adopted a communication on “the mid-term review of the Strategy on Life Sciences and Biotechnologies”. The original strategy was adopted in 2002 and runs until 2010. It covers issues such as pharmaceutical and healthcare biotechnology. The mid-term review offers an opportunity to assess the success of the strategy during the period 2002-2006 and provides a re-orientation of the action plan. The review can be found at:
http://ec.europa.eu/biotechnology/docs/com_2007_175_en.pdf
New TV campaign promoting physical activity
The European Commission and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) are launching a joint TV advertising campaign that aims to encourage European citizens to make physical activity part of their daily lives. The advert encourages viewers to get out of their armchairs and be physically active, using the slogan "Go on, get out of your armchair'. Millions of Europeans are expected to view the advert when it is screened free of charge during the half-time break of this season’s televised Champions League football games.