Lords Committee On Pandemic Flu To Hear Evidence From Dawn Primarolo, UK

The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee, which is conducting a short follow-up inquiry into pandemic influenza, will next week hear evidence from Dawn Primarolo MP, Minister of State for Public Health.

Ms Primarolo will be asked about the UK's preparedness in the event of a large-scale pandemic flu outbreak. Areas to be covered by the Committee will include how well the UK's transport and medical infrastructure is prepared for such an outbreak and the plans that are in place to deal with the eventuality of significant numbers of key workers being taken ill or having to stay home to look after sick dependents.

The Committee will also ask how far NHS schemes such as the Flu Line phone service have been developed, how intensive care facilities will be deployed given the likelihood of a scarcity and what training frontline medical staff have received in order to be able to cope with a pandemic situation.

The evidence session will take place at 3.30pm on Tuesday 17 March in Committee Room 4A of the House of Lords.

Notes

1. The evidence session is open to the public; journalists wishing to attend should access Parliament via St Stephen's Entrance where they will be directed towards the Committee Corridor. Please arrive in plenty of time to allow for security screening.

2. An audiostream of the evidence session will be broadcast live at http://www.parliamentlive.tv

3. 2009 is the 30th anniversary of the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee. In that time they have produced influential reports on a diverse range of subjects including the use of antibiotics in the NHS, health risks associated with flying and Internet security. For media inquiries relating to the anniversary please contact Owen Williams on the number above.

This inquiry is a short follow-up to an earlier report, Pandemic Influenza, 4th Report of Session 2005-06 (HL Paper 88), published in December 2005. For more details on the Science and Technology Committee and their inquiries into pandemic influenza click here.

Source
Owen Williams,
Head of Press and Media
House of Lords,
London,
SW1A 0PW
http://www.parliamentlive.tv