Second Life to show Confed sessions

Members of Second Life will be able to view sessions from the annual NHS Confederation conference live online tomorrow.

For the first time, three key sessions from the conference will be accessible to members of the public through the virtual world’s website.

The free screening is being provided by the NHS Confederation and Imperial College London.

Second Life members will be able to view ‘Can Obama fix the US health system?’, a panel discussion on the financial challenge facing the NHS called ‘Just how tough is it going to get?’ and a final session on The paradox of choice: Why more is less.

Members will also be able to pose questions to the speakers and panels at the conference using Second Life voice and chat.

Dave Taylor, programme lead for virtual worlds and medical media, Imperial College London, told E-Health Insider: “We are working with NHS Confederation on enabling people to attend conferences together in a virtual world, so that there can be a more joined up approach across the NHS.

“We are keen that as many organisations as possible join in because this is very different from viewing a conference on a website.

"You can be there with other people and you can put different groups from across the NHS and on other sides of the Atlantic in there as neighbours. The whole idea is to make the NHS as joined up as possible.”

The Confederation conference opened yesterday with a warning that the downturn could present "the greatest ever leadership challenge for the NHS."

Today’s keynotes include a speech from the newly appointed health secretary Andy Burnham.

Link: View the event on Second Life.