The NHS European Office has responded to an EU consultation on the provision of information to patients on prescription-only medicinal products.

The consultation, which closed on 7 April, sought views on the European Commission's key ideas to form the basis of a legal proposal on information to patients. The Commission's aims are:

• To establish a framework to provide information to patients and to maintain the confidence of citizens, regulators and healthcare professionals. This will include the creation of national co-regulatory bodies to adopt a code of conduct on information to patients, and monitor the way information is provided by industry
• To maintain the ban on direct to consumer advertising of prescription only medicines
• To avoid unnecessary bureaucracy.

Next steps

The Commission intends to bring forward legal proposals later this year. The NHS European Office will continue to follow developments in this area. If you would be interested in keeping in touch with these issues, with the possibility to feed in views at future stages, please contact helena.bowden@nhsconfed.org or jenny-lee.spencer@nhsconfed.org