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Health Technology Assessments are clearly here to stay. The issue is how they are framed, and what information is assessed. Karen Facey will outline the evolution of HTAs in their various guises across the EU, put HTAs in their proper context – the experience of the patient - and discuss how HTAs are evolving as a mechanism for delivering – or withholding - access to medicines.

Karen Facey became Chief Executive of the Health Technology Board for Scotland in 2000, responsible for the provision of authoritative advice on the clinical and cost effectiveness of health interventions to the NHS in Scotland. Since 2003 she has been consulting on all matters related to evidence-based assessment of interventions, working in UK, Canada, Australia and Finland. She was a consultant to the WHO Europe Health Evidence Network.

Karen Facey chairs the NHS Scotland Resource Allocation Committee, designed to improve the formula for allocating resources to the 14 NHS boards in Scotland. She is also a member of the Committee on Safety of Devices, which advises the UK regulatory authority. She is a Director of HTA International, and chairs the Patient and Citizen Involvement Interest Group.