Food Safety JC 4 February 2000
Health and Food Safety Sectors
Belfast, 4 February 2000
Joint Communiqué
1. A meeting of the North/South ministerial Council in sectoral format was held in Belfast on 4 February 2000. The meeting dealt with issues relating to the Food Safety Promotion Board, which is one of the six North/South Implementation Bodies, and with Health, which is one of the six Areas for Co-operation.
2. The Northern Ireland Executive Committee delegation comprised Ms Bairbre de Brún MLA, Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety and Sir Reg Empey, MLA, Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment. The Irish Government was represented by Mr Micheál Martin, TD, Minister for Health and Children.
3. Both sides acknowledged the significance of the event, as it was the first occasion for the North/South Ministerial Council to meet in Food Safety Promotion and Health Sectoral formats.
Food Safety Promotion Board
4. The Interim Chief Executive of the Food Safety Promotion Board (FSPB), Mr Martin Higgins, made a progress report to the Council on the development of an initial workplan for the FSPB, whose functions are: the promotion of food safety; research into food safety; communication of food alerts; surveillance of food borne diseases; promotion of scientific co-operation and linkages between laboratories; and developing of cost-effective facilities for specialised laboratory testing. The Council noted the current position. The Council also noted that the Advisory Board would have its inaugural meeting that afternoon and looked forward to working closely with the FSPB.
Health Areas for Co-operation
5. The Council considered issues in the area of Health, which the plenary meeting of the Council in Armagh on 13 December 1999 had agreed should be discussed at the first meeting of the Council in the appropriate sectoral format. See Annex. The issues are Accident and Emergency Planning, Major Emergencies, Co-operation on High Technology Equipment, Cancer Research and Health Promotion.
6. The Council agreed that officials would bring forward to the next meeting of the Council draft workplans for how these proposals might be developed and taken forward. In addition, the Council agreed that at each of its quarterly meetings, as well as reviewing progress in all the areas specified as suitable for co-operation, it will focus on a specific area.
Next Meeting
7. The Council agreed that its next meeting in this sectoral format would take place in the South in May 2000.
ANNEX
PROPOSED NORTH/SOUTH CO-OPERATION ON HEALTH
Accident & Emergency Planning
The existing mechanism for collaboration between the Western and Southern Health Boards in Northern Ireland and the North Western and North Eastern Health Boards in Ireland (known as Co-operation and Working Together) will be extended and developed to improve co-ordination and co-operation between health boards in the border areas in relation to:
- mutual support in ambulance cover and joint training
- sharing emergency admissions where hospitals are under pressure.
Major emergencies
- Planning for major emergencies
Co-operation Ion High Technology Equipment
- The scope for co-operation on the procurement, funding and use of high technology equipment
Cancer Research
- Sharing information on cancer research
- Collaboration in research
- Participation in multi-centred trials
Health Promotion
- Sharing information and discussing opportunities for co-operation in relation to health promotion on an all Ireland basis
- Collaboration on public information campaigns, particularly major media campaigns, to maximise impact and achieve economies of scale
- Sharing information on research and good practice for mutual benefit, including, in particular, the identification of potential joint campaigns following the recent survey of health and social well being in Northern Ireland and the proposed health and lifestyle survey in the South
- Scope for research and public information/education in the areas of heart disease, cancer and smoking.