Conference 2024: supporting change in health and care

We welcomed partners and delegates from across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, to Bristol Health Partners Conference on Tuesday 12 November 2024. See photos from the day.

Around 100 people joined us at St Michael’s Centre, a community venue in north Bristol, to find out more about working with us to improve health and care for people living in our region, and explore opportunities to collaborate with each other.  

Delegates enjoyed a delicious East African lunch cooked by Jikoni, before being welcomed by conference chair, Primrose Granville and our director, Professor David Wynick. 

HITs inspiring change

Speakers from three of our Health Integration Teams (HITs) presented their own experiences of  enabling change  – including successes, challenges and lessons learned, and took questions from the audience: 

• Kidney Disease HIT’s Dr Pippa Bailey (University of Bristol and North Bristol NHS Trust) discussed how the HIT had driven changes to national genetic testing guidance for African heritage kidney donors.  

• Active Lives HIT’s Dr Janet Withall (University of Birmingham) presented the Retirement in Action (REACT) study, which has been shown to improve mobility in older adults, and its recent community roll-out in inner-city and east Bristol. She was followed by Subitha Baghirathan, representing Age UK Bristol, who got everyone in the room on their feet to try out some REACT moves for themselves! 

• SHIP HIT’s Dr Jane Meyrick (UWE Bristol) guided delegates through her co-produced project working with child sexual abuse survivors to improve their experiences of sexual health services, which won a prestigious BMA award last year. 

Time to network

Delegates then made their way downstairs for tea, coffee and networking. Fifteen Health Integration Teams had stalls, alongside exhibitors from People in Health West of England, Health Innovation West of England, Caafi Health, Nilaari, the Centre for Academic Primary Care at the University of Bristol and Health Economics and Health Policy at Bristol. 

A conversation about courage

We wrapped up Conference with one of our popular ‘in conversation’ sessions. This year, Primrose and Dr Julian Walker, R&D Director for Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, were joined by Aneta Creevy, a Public Contributor to our Stroke HIT, Beverley Forbes, Research Co-ordinator at Nilaari, and Dr Kathy Ryan, BrisDoc’s Medical Director. 

The wide-ranging conversation touched on their own personal experiences of giving and receiving care, clinical and emotional aspects and what might need to change in order to encourage a more courage-based health and care system. 

We would like to thank all of our speakers, exhibitors and delegates for contributing to an inspiring afternoon. 

Feedback

“First year I have attended. I thought the format was refreshingly simple. It’s about people, inspiration and building a community. Thank you for emphasis on ‘inclusion’ where your actions speak even louder than your words (which is rare).”

“I learnt about more than I imagined and was grateful to hear about the variety and the different approaches used by the different HITs.”

“Great content, food, venue – educational, challenging and great conversations.”