BLOG: Hill Dickinson's Jamie Curley reflects on the NHS Confederation conference

By Ben Schofield on Jun 15, 09 04:18 PM

THE healthcare practice group has been extremely busy over the last few weeks, preparing for our attendance at the annual NHS Confederation Conference, which was being held for the first time in our home city of Liverpool.

The NHS Confederation is the independent membership body, which represents the NHS in England, and the Annual Conference is where NHS executives and managers meet to discuss issues affecting the NHS now, and how they are going to meet the considerable challenges of the future.

There was an expectant air to the Conference as delegates were to be addressed by both Andrew Lansley (Conservative Shadow Health Secretary) and Secretary of State for Health Andy Burnham, making his first major speech in only his second week in the job.

We expected a good turn out of delegates, including many of our clients, and we were certainly not disappointed.

We were kept very busy for all three days of the Conference, welcoming over 250 delegates to our stand, where they could catch up with colleagues and discuss the latest issues whilst taking advantage of our unique Hill Dickinson fresh fruit cocktails, which we had laid on especially.

We also provided some light relief for visitors in the form of a game of golf on a Nintendo Wii; with the winner of the tournament donating the console to their favourite Children's Charity.

The NHS is changing in many ways and at a rapid pace. Many topics were discussed over the three days, not least of which, the tough times, which the NHS faces in the next three years with a potential £8 to 10 billion funding gap after 2011.

Hill Dickinson partners will be actively involved in helping our NHS clients to meet this and other challenges in the years ahead and helping them to deliver first class patient care.

Preparations for the Conference have been extremely hard work but very rewarding, as we met with friends old and new, including Chief Executives of many of the NHS Trusts throughout the North West.

As the Conference closed we reflected on how the NHS is looking to the future and how we are becoming more deeply involved in helping our NHS clients to deliver the very best in care for their patients during these challenging times.

We also reflected on how Liverpool had done us proud and we look forward to welcoming the NHS Confederation back to our home city next year.