CELEBRATING TWO INNOVATIVE DAYS AT THE HOME OF GENERAL PRACTICE

Best Practice and Best Practice in Nursing 2018 could have not come at a more crucial time for the profession, with the NHS turning 70 and general practice facing some of its toughest choices yet. Taking place against the backdrop of an imminent NHS Long Term Plan, urgent reviews of GP partnerships and premises and intense re-negotiation of the GMS contract, Best Practice 2018 was always going to be a big one! Add to that the fact that the sector is going through its greatest ever shake up with new disruptive technologies and innovative care models offering unprecedented opportunities and risks that were unthinkable a few years ago.

Doors opened at 9:00 am on 17th October 2018, at the NEC Birmingham to a flood of thousands of general practice and primary care professionals who came together to network and share solutions around the key challenges facing the sector – from the workforce crisis to the tsunami of rising, ever-more complex demand.

Once again reaffirming its place as an unmissable fixture in the international healthcare events calendar, Best Practice and Best Practice in Nursing has continued to grow in size and stature. Delegates flocked to the event in greater numbers than ever in search of headspace, ideas and inspiration to help them tackle the barriers they face to improving care.  At this year’s conference, a total of 5,708 senior general practice and primary care professionals came to Birmingham’s NEC on 17th-18th October. All were keen to capitalise on the chance to improve their clinical, practice business, finance and IT skills and to learn how to make the changes big and small that will lead to more robust, sustainable general practice and primary care.

Our far-reaching conference programme addressed the complexities of managing and delivering grassroots general practice through to the brave new world of population-based primary care at scale. The programme’s content covered the creation of Primary Care Networks across England and why they are the building blocks of new Integrated Care Systems.

Under one roof, delegates were able to enjoy and learn from world-class speakers delivering 117 hours of the latest updates and developments in Primary Care. There was a particularly big buzz around the arrival of Matt Hancock, our new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, who addressed a packed audience on the second day of the conference over his priorities for the future of the profession – stating that workforce was his number one priority. Other key speakers to draw an audience included Professor Steve Field, Chief Inspector of General Practice, Dr Richard Vautrey, Chair of the BMA GPC, Dr Jonathan Leach, Joint Honorary Secretary, RCGP, Dr Karen Kirkham, National Clinical Advisor for Primary Care, Dr Nav Chana, National Primary Care Home Clinical Director, Matthew Swindells, National Director: Operations and Information, Lara Carmona, Associate Director of Policy and Public Affairs (UK & International), and Paul Vaughan, Director of Nursing – Transformation.

The Best Practice conference streams included the Future of General Practice, Practice Management and a stimulating mix of highly relevant clinical updates and masterclasses, fast-tracking you the latest research, guidelines and best practice in the prevention and diagnosis and management of a wide range of conditions seen in day-to-day practice.

The Future of Nursing stream included tips on implementing the 10-point action plan for general practice nursing, nursing in a digital age, what good looks like in district nursing and inspiration on how to be a great nurse leader. The agenda also delivered mandatory training, clinical updates, advanced practice sessions, covering CVD, diabetes and respiratory, and skills workshops too, to support delegate’s professional development.

The show floor was buzzing with primary care professionals all eager to visit our 200+ exhibitors brimming with ideas and solutions to support them to work working at greater scale, deliver better patient care, experience better working lives and run more efficient practices.

We want to thank all of our speakers, partners and exhibitors for delivering such an exciting and innovative conference and a special thank you to all of our delegates for attending and making these two days the home of general practice. We hope you enjoyed the educational and networking opportunities and look forward to seeing you again next year at the NEC Birmingham on the
9 th -10th October 2019. 

“The breadth of the training on offer makes Best Practice unique.  I am a nurse practitioner but I have been attending the GP clinical and practice management sessions as well as the nursing sessions because they are really useful. It’s also a great opportunity to network with all the different professions that you meet here. I’ve been coming regularly to this conference for four years and really enjoy it.  It is also really valuable CPD because it is a nationally recognised event.”
Kate Henning, Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Andover, Hampshire

For more information on how to get involved contact the team:

• Speaker enquiries - Lisa Thomlinson, Programme Editor: l.thomlinson@closerstillmedia.com
• General & marketing enquiries - Breiman Munoz, Marketing Manager: b.munoz@closerstillmedia.com
• Exhibiting & Sponsorship enquiries - Esther Beal, Show Manager: e.beal@closerstillmedia.com