BCS announces speaker line-up for HC2006

The British Computer Society has announced details of its speaker line-up for this year’s HC2006 health informatics conference at Harrogate, Yorkshire, 20-22 March. The focus this year will be on how health informatics is making a difference to the health service.

Keynote speakers at the three day conference include Richard Granger, director general of NHS IT, Richard Jeavons, the DH’s director of IT service implementation and Charles Hughes president of BCS.

Gwyn Thomas, head of the NHS Wales IT programme and Kenneth Robinson clinical lead on IM&T at the Scottish Executive will also be speaking, providing perspectives on the approaches to NHS IT modernisation being followed in how Wales and Scotland. Speakers from the European Commission also feature prominently in the speaker line-up.

Colonel Mike Manson, head of information management with the Ministry of Defence’s, Defence Medical Services Department, will set out the approach to IT modernisation being taken in the forces outlining achievements and next steps.

Although no government ministers are scheduled to speak one of the highlights looks set to come on the final day when Professor Nick Bosanquet, professor of health policy at Imperial College, London, will be speaking on the subject "A new informatics for the post-boom NHS", where he will be looking ahead to the world that follows Connecting for Health.

Day one of the event will feature a showcase on the NHS Connecting for Health programme, followed by an afternoon session focusing on European Health Informatics with Dr Neill Jones acting as Chair.

A key speaker on the second day will be Richard Granger, director general of NHS IT, chief executive of NHS CfH, who is billed to deliver an update on the National Programme for IT (NPfIT); reviewing the latest developments, successes, issues and considering the outlook for NHS IT.

Together with the formal programme of speakers, delegates will be able to participate in lectures, workshops, panel discussion sessions and learn from case histories on a range of subjects such use of wireless LAN, implementing e-learning, use of text messaging for health and dentistry and operational IT in the NHS. There will also be a four hall exhibition where new technologies will be on display and visitors and delegates will be able to network with numerous solution vendors.

In addition to the main conference, a set of lectures and workshops will be delivered on the topic of “Understanding Healthcare”. This section of the conference will be delivered by a team of health professional members of the BCS Health Informatics Forum, including Dr Glyn Hayes, chair of the forum. The conference stream is aimed at enabling informatics professionals whose IT developments support healthcare, to gain an understanding of how the healthcare profession works. Sessions will focus on the clinical and administrative processes of the NHS.

Sir Muir Grey will be awarded the BCS Healthcare Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in the National Electronic Library for Health and developing the clinical knowledge side of CfH.

Health Informatics, Making the Difference, will be held at the Harrogate International Conference and Exhibition Centre, Yorkshire, from 20-22 March 2006.