Conferences

11th Annual Conference of the UK Federation of Primary Care Research Organisations and 2nd Joint Conference with the Primary Care Research Network in England.

Improving Patient Outcomes With Research

We are now taking bookings for our yearly conference:
27th - 28th November 2008
Burleigh Court, Loughborough

To book now please download our flyer by clicking here

Or download our Abstract Submission Document here

Download the Conference Programme here

Previous Conferences

The 2007 UKFPCRO Conference ‘New Beginnings, Fresh Opportunities’ was held at the University Arms Hotel, Cambridge on the 29th and 30th November 2007.  Many thanks to all the organisations involved but also the North East Essex R&D Team for helping to organise such a well attended event.

The event was, as always, a success with some interesting speeches from, Professor Janet Darbyshire, joint director of UKCRN and director of MRC Clinical Trials Unit; Professor Richard Hobbs, Deputy Director of School of primary Care Research; Dr Jonathon Graffy, Senior Clinical Research Fellow University of Cambridge, Clinical lead (Medical) PCRN-EoE; Catherine Johns, Head of R&D Infrastructure DOH; Dr Andrew Hayward, Senior Lecturer in Infectious Diseases UCL; Joanne Yarwood, Head of Immunisation Information; Professor Paul Wallace, Director of PCRN.

Over an enjoyable and busy two days we shared 25 oral presentations, 4 workshops and over 19 posters.

On the morning of the second day we had the opportunity to join in on a very interesting and stimulating debate ‘Patients have an obligation to take part in clinical research’, for the motion we had Mr John Sitza,Senior Assistant Director, CCRN, Consortium Co-Director and Professor Martyn Evans, Professor of Humanities in Medicine. Speaking against the motion we had Joyce Robins, Co director of Patient Concern, which she won with an obvious majority.

The conference dinner was an opportunity to relax after a busy day and enjoy the highlight of the event……The Morris Dancers!!!!! Click here to see the photographs.

Click here to download the 2007 Conference Final Programme (PDF Document 326Kb)

The 2006 UKFPCRO conference ‘Health and Opportunity’ was held at the on The Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool 27th and 28th November. Many thanks to the networks in the North West of England and to Denys Hancock and the North West team for their hard work in organising this. The restored and historical hotel provided a fabulous and rather decadent backdrop to a stimulating and encouraging conference in a time of massive changes within primary care and national research and development.
The event was a great success. There was a packed programme covering the two days, with plenary speeches from: Professor Martin Roland Director of National Primary Care R&D Centre; Dr Lucy McCloughlan Capacity and Capability Manager, Scottish School of Primary Care; Sue Fitzpatrick Education Manager the Institute of Clinical Research; Dr Peter Bower Senior Research Fellow National Primary Care Research and Development Centre and Dr Patricia Ellis, Primary Care Research Network Manager. There were over 50 oral presentations, 18 posters and 6 workshops.
The Conference Dinner was an opportunity, as usual, for less formal networking and was followed by entertainment for all to enjoy into the night.

The 2005 UKFPCRO conference ‘Impact and Improvement’ was held at the Thistle Hotel in Bristol on 28th and 29th November. Many thanks to the networks in the South West and to Denys Hancock and Anthonia James for their hard work in organising this.
The event was a great success. There was a packed programme with plenary speeches from Sir Denis Pereira Gray, Professor Debbie Sharp, Professor David Weller, Dr Sue Wilson and Noreen Caine, over 60 oral presentations, 26 posters and 5 workshops.
The Conference Dinner was an opportunity for less formal networking and was followed by entertainment from The Comets, a local Bristol band.
Delegates were asked to vote for the favourite paper and poster presentations. The Best Paper prize was won by Sara Shaw for her discourse analysis of primary care policy and development in England. This presentation illustrated the shifting power and beliefs and was certainly very timely in the current climate of change. The Best Poster prize was won by Ros Blackwood and colleagues for their health needs assessment at HMP Wandsworth, highlighting how the remit of primary care extends to many arenas and the particular challenges in dealing with a vulnerable and mobile population.

This was the seventh annual conference for the Federation and had the largest number of delegates to date – over 210. There were also over 20 parallel sessions, 5 workshops and 4 plenary sessions. The focus of the conference was on how primary care research is changing and evolving and how organisations involved in this area need to engage with this agenda. Pali Hungin talked about initiative and originality and Frank Dobbs provided a futuristic view of the GP. Both were thought provoking talks. However, there was also increased creativity with one workshop session looking at ‘Art in GP Surgeries’ which involved participants producing a giant clay teapot! A thoroughly enjoyable experience from all accounts! Finally, we managed to squeeze in a debate about research governance and whether it was stifling primary care research and Cliff Bailey closed the event with a talk outlining future infrastructure issues and changes. It was a great conference!

The conference in 2003 had a truly celebratory theme with an additional emphasis looking at how we need to continue to develop capacity in primary care research. Prof David Mant provided a personal reflection on the Mant report’s 1997 recommendation to establish primary care research networks. The enthusiasm and success of PCRNs could be seen in the willingness of practitioners to engage in research and the support from academic units to enable these practitioners to undertake useful and high quality work. Prof Richard Hobbs provided an overview of projects and impact that some primary care trials have had. Dr Lisa Cotterill from the National Co-ordinating Centre for Research Capacity Development provided some much needed guidance about how capacity development for practitioners would be supported in the future by the Department of Health through the revision and extension of personal awards schemes and review of research support infrastructure. In addition to these talks there were nearly 200 delegates and over 100 presentations and research interest group sessions.

This year’s conference featured plenary speeches from both the UK and Scandinavia illustrating how local and more general initiatives can impact on quality in healthcare as well as illustrating how health inequalities still exist and the policy perspectives that are aiming to tackle these. The conference closed acknowledging it’s setting with a reflection on the Scottish School of Primary Care. The research interest groups sessions were joined by workshops and sessions on research capacity, access to care and tool development and trials in primary care. For entertainment dinner and a celilah was provided at the Moat House.

Building on the previous years theme of working for wider involvement, this conference aimed to highlight the wider primary care research communities, including social care, (represented for the first time at a UKF-PCRN conference by the SSRG), multidisciplinary working and the challenges of working across the primary care/ secondary care interface. Speakers included Welsh Office representation and the Children’s Commissioner for Wales. Delegates enjoyed the conference setting in the Welsh seaside town of Llandudno; the first UKF-PCRN conference outside England. And although the location may have played some part in the moderate attendance figures, it paved the way for the following years excursion over the border into Scotland.

This conference is probably most memorable for the abysmal weather that it had to contend with. Rain buffeted the South Coast of England and the hotel where the conference was located and organising networks which hosted the conference had to battle against flooding and inability of speakers to get to the venue. Even so against all the odds the conference was a great success. This was in some part doe to the excellent improvisation skills of the conference organisation team.