Human Tissue Authority public meeting and Annual Review of the Year event

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Event date: 10 July 2012 10:00

Event details

The Human Tissue Authority (HTA) public meeting and Annual Review of the Year event were held on Tuesday 10 July in central London.

The meeting in the morning was a regular Authority meeting held in public and provided an opportunity to observe the Authority as it discussed its business. Once the formal agenda items were discussed there was also an opportunity to ask questions. The papers and minutes for the meeting are now available on our website.

The Review of the Year event in the afternoon was the HTA’s main public event of the year, when we launched our 2011/12 Annual Review publication and reviewed the last year’s achievements. The event was introduced by Baroness Warwick, HTA Chair. Sarah Bedwell, Director of Regulation, chaired a discussion examining the HTA’s approach to regulation. This looked at the HTA's impact and effectiveness as a regulator and the future challenges we face. This was followed by a discussion session on the landscape of regulation, the issues faced by the sectors the HTA regulates, the future of regulation and how the HTA should  involve the public more in its regulatory activity.

Following these presentations, Professor Bobbie Farsides, Professor of Clinical and Biomedical Ethics at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, chaired our debate titled Consent for the benefit of the public.

The debate focused on the post mortem sector and research. Speakers presented their perspective on this and some of the surrounding issues, followed by a discussion with the audience. The issues for debate included the value of post-mortem examinations in understanding disease, and in developing treatments and cures; the nature of consent; links to research; how consent can benefit the living; the role of regulation; and the perspectives of patients and the public.

Feedback from the day was even more positive than in previous years. 100 delegates including professionals and members of the public enjoyed the event and all agreed that such events are a good way to engage with people affected by HTA regulation, and all the presentations scored highly with the majority of respondents agreeing that the presentations were useful and informative.

If you missed the day, you can view videos from the event.

Registration for this event has now closed.

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