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
Lords Committee On Pandemic Flu To Hear Evidence From Dawn Primarolo, UK
Published
Published Sun 15 Mar 2009
