Bright and early on Tuesday morning, you will head to the Liverpool ACC, at the heart of the iconic Mersey dockside, alongside around 700 other hospice care professionals.
Once registered, you will be able to orientate yourself around the space and sessions with use of our handy conference app, or the more traditional brochure found in your conference pack. There will be a range of exhibitors from across the sector, showing everything from care support services to technical equipment.
Through the parallel sessions you will have a chance to explore our four key themes for this year: arts and holistic care, science and innovation, policy into practice and business and culture of care.
In the first morning session, you could delve into the arts and holistic care, through a cartoonist-led session on dementia, learn more about sustaining hospice workforces, or explore the principles and practice of telemedicine.
There will be regular breaks during the day, which are a wonderful opportunity to network with colleagues and meet people that you might only see here once a year.
The conference draws in professionals from across and beyond the end of life care sector, including hospice chief executives, trustees, front-line clinicians, fundraisers, academics and senior managers, each of whom will bring their own ideas to the table – and take something new and exciting back to their workplaces.
Late Tuesday morning Hospice UK’s chair, Lord Michael Howard of Lympne, will officially open our conference and introduce the first speaker, Dr Margaret McCartney. As well as being a GP in Glasgow and regular media contributor, Dr McCartney is the author of two key books about medicine and end of life care, and will provide some stimulating insights on ‘dying at home’.
Signed copies of a selection of speakers’ books, along with other publications, will be available to peruse and buy at the bookstall throughout the event.
Along with all that ‘food for thought’ from the morning’s sessions, delegates will share lunch in the ACC and have the chance to take part in various creative activities (more details of which to come in tomorrow’s article).
You might take the opportunity to attend a Tuesday lunchtime meeting with Hospice Quality Partnership or hear from the editor of the BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care, an official journal of Hospice UK, about writing for publication.
After lunch, the delegates will again choose between various parallel sessions. You could tap into the science and innovation theme through an exciting Innovation workshop, or look at putting policy into practice through a challenging and motivating advocacy workshop.
The afternoon plenary, led by Jos de Blok, will look at a radical approach to community nursing. As the CEO of Dutch company Buurtzorg, Jos is considered a key change agent, and has played a significant role in transforming home‑based healthcare in the Netherlands.
At the end of such a busy and exciting day, you will enjoy some well-earned refreshments and time to unwind at the complimentary drinks reception.
Carry on networking, listen to some inspirational stories and toast incredible achievements from across hospice care, at the hospice innovation awards presentation. These annual awards are sponsored by the National Gardens Scheme, who have been generously supporting Hospice UK’s work and the hospice care sector since 1997.
You can now read what to expect from day two and day three of the conference.
Hospice UK’s flagship event runs from Tuesday 10 November to Thursday 12 November, and will include plenty of talks, workshops and activities, themed around ‘the art and science of hospice care’. Within this, there will be a focus on the holistic, yet rigorous, approach to care, and entrepreneurial and creative approaches to sustainability.
Thanks for the vital support of our sponsors: Access Group, haysmacintyre, Lynas Foster, Local Hospice Lottery and LloydsPharmacy – details of which on our website.
All of the information about the conference can be found on our Hospice UK’s website, where you can still register to attend, if you haven’t already.
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