Good news, bad news:
At the FLYER Professional Flight Training Show yesterday, Stuart Mitchell from the UK CAA Aeromedical Centre gave a talk about the Class 1 medical.
He said that NPA-FCL 28 (latest text
here [Microsoft Word .doc file, ~1 MB]) is expected to be implemented in December. (The JAA Committee is meeting on 15 November.)
He also suggested that the mechanism for issuing an initial Class 1 with a deviation to those who are between initial and renewal limits is likely to end "sometime soon".