Vol. 439 No. 4
160 Mrs. Owen asked the Minister for Health the members of his Department who attended medical conferences or seminars in the years 1992 and 1993; if he will give details of conferences attended and the occasion and sponsor of conferences; and if he has prohibited officials from accepting invitations to such functions from drug companies.
Attendance at conferences or seminars on relevant policy topics is intrinsic to the role of senior officers involved in policy making in a rapidly evolving area such as the health services. Attendance at such conferences represents a cost-effective way of keeping abreast of new developments and ensuring the dissemination of best practice in the provision and management of services. Decisions on attendance at particular conferences are made using criteria such as relevance of topic, availability of a suitable officer to attend, cost to the Department etc. It has not been necessary to develop any more formal guidelines to date and, as can be seen from the attached data on conference and seminar attendances in the years in question, attendance at the invitation of drug companies has not arisen.
The attached tabular statement details the conferences and seminars attended by officials of my Department in the years in question and the organisations who organised the events. It is not normal practice to give names of officials in reply to parliamentary questions.
1993
|
Conference/Seminar |
Organiser |
|
European Congress on Ambulatory Surgery 19-20/3/1993 |
Medicongress |
|
Conference on Breast Cancer Screening 22/3/1993 |
Marie Curie Cancer Care |
|
WHO Drug Utilization Research Group 24-26/3/1993 |
WHO |
|
“Elderly — A Challenge for the General Hospital” 25-26/3/1993 |
Project Planning |
|
“A Mental Treatment Act — Towards a Consensus” 22-23/4/1993 |
The Mental Health Association of Ireland |
|
Seminar on Pharmaeconomics and Competition |
The Association of the Danish Pharmaceutical 23/4/1993 Industry |
|
Conference on Green Paper on Mental Health 23-24/4/1993 |
The Mental Health Association of Ireland |
|
Ageing — The Inevitable Process 5/5/1993 |
The Academy of Medical Laboratory Science |
|
Current Concepts in Transplantation 8/5/1993 |
The Academy of Medical Laboratory Science |
|
“Quality Assurance in Cervical Cancer Screening” 14-15/5/1993 |
Europe Against Cancer and European Federation of Cytology Societies |
|
European Conference on Rehabilitation and Drug Policy 23-27/5/1993 |
Europe Against Drug Abuse |
|
Summer Scientific Meeting of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine 26-27/5/1993 |
The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland |
|
9th International Conference on AIDS 7-11/6/1993 |
Der Congress |
|
3rd International Conference on Preventive Cardiology 27/6/1993 — 1/7/1993 |
International Society and Federation of Cardiology |
|
1993 World Federation for Mental Health 18/8/1993 — 1/9/1993 |
WFMH |
|
“European Consensus Conference on Quality Development Indicators for Perinatal Care” 21-22/10/1993 |
EC/WHO |
|
“Mental Health Act 1983: Time for Change?” Conference 11-12/11/1993 |
The Law Society/The Institute of Psychiatry |
|
4th Medical Device Technology Conference 15-16/11/93 |
Medical Device Technology and Eastman |
|
BASCD Conference 24/11/1993 |
The British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry |
|
Winter Scientific Meeting of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine 1-2/12/1993 |
The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland |
|
“Cost-Effective Quality in Health Care” Conference 8-9/12/1993 |
AIC Conferences Ltd. |
|
International Conference of Chief Dental Officers |
World Dental Federation |
|
Conference/Seminar |
Organiser |
|
The EC Medical Device Directive (31st January 1992) |
Federation of Irish Chemical Industries |
|
Alternative Systems for Compensating Victims of Medical Accidents (6th — 8th April 1992) |
Centre for Socio-Legal Studies |
|
Spring Meeting of Faculty of Radiologists. (25th April 1992) |
Faculty of Radiologists |
|
Summer Scientific Meeting of Faculty of Public Health Medicine. (3rd-4th June 1992) |
Royal College of Physicians |
|
Cardiac Rehabilitation Seminar (5th June 1992) |
Irish Heart Foundation |
|
Scientific Meeting of UK Faculty of Public Health Medicine (1st-3rd July 1992) |
Faculty of Public Health Medicine (United Kingdom) |
|
7th International Conference on AIDS (19th-24th July 1992) |
Harvard University & the Dutch Federation |
|
20th World Congress of Medical Technology (July 1992) |
Association of Medical Lab. Technologists |
|
9th World Congress of the International Association for study of Mental Deficiency (5th-9th August 1992) |
International Association for the Scientific Study of Mental Deficiency |
|
Advances in European Medicine (15th-16th October 1992) |
Royal College of Physicians |
|
International Health Care Challenge (20th-23rd October 1992) |
International Hospital Federation |
|
4th International Meeting of Society for Minimally Invasive Therapy (8th-10th November 1992) |
SMIT'92 |
|
Scientific Meeting of Faculty of Public Health Medicine (2nd-3rd December 1992) |
Royal College of Physicians of Ireland |
|
70th General Session of International Association of Dental Research |
International Association of Dental Research |
|
Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine |
Joint Committee on Higher Surgical Training |
