The Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council met on 30 November and 1 December in Brussels. The Health and Consumer Affairs part of the Council was taken on 1 December. I represented the UK.

At the meeting, the Council was unable to reach agreement on the application of patients’ rights in the cross-border healthcare directive. This issue will be discussed further under the Spanish presidency.

Ministers received a progress report from the European Commission and the European Centre for Disease Control. There was also a discussion on lessons learnt from the EU level response to the H1N1 pandemic.

A Council recommendation on smoke-free environments and Council conclusions on alcohol and health, e-Health and innovative incentives for effective antibiotics were adopted. The presidency also provided an update on progress of the proposals in the pharmaceutical package.