Healthcare Computing 2008: An Invitation to the Future [Yorkshire, UK - Apr 2008]

[rnformatics]

Healthcare Computing 2008: An Invitation to the Future - 25th Annual Conference and Exhibition

Date: Monday, April 21, 2008
Venue: Harrogate, Yorkshire, United Kingdom

HC2008: Invitation to the future

Frontline care services are about to undergo even more substantial change in order to meet the challenges of providing healthcare and socialcare in the digital age. The focus of the 2008 event, therefore, is on looking forward. It will consider how care services could look in five or more years time and how best to get there.

It will cover the very newest forms of care delivery (both standalone and integrated); emerging digital tools; and how information and communications technology is being used successfully in innovative approaches to realising the current visions for health and care. The conference will also consider current problems and approaches in making the necessary changes happen.

2008 is the 25th birthday of HC, which is not only a time for celebration but also a time for it to change. Among the changes being introduced in its jubilee year are:

• a new date: a month later than usual — in April (21–23); and
• a new conference structure: three or four parallel conferences
  each day.

Invitation to contribute

The conference is an open forum for sharing practical ideas and know-how. You are invited to share your knowledge from research, an evaluation or a trial; organise a debate; demonstrate a skill; or introduce a new concept or technology — see opposite for more detail.

At present, the mini-conference topics are:

• Delivery of care across sectors
  • e.g. health and social care, chronic illness, Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE)
• Making innovative technologies work
  • e.g. common user interface, clever homes, robotics
• Supporting access, disability and diversity
  • e.g. assistive technologies
• Understanding current priorities and future challenges in health and care
  • e.g. roles and responsibilities, commissioning, performance measurement, governance
• Building capability: people and services
  • e.g. developing educational programmes, benchmarking, accreditation professionalism
• Implementing national programmes
  • e.g. deployments, lessons, terminologies, standards
• Managing safety and risk for subjects of care
  • e.g. patient safety, security, confidentiality
• Transforming services
  • e.g. Lean, six-sigma

Themes inherent in all areas include innovation, ethics, standards and professionalism. There will be special sessions on understanding IT, understanding healthcare, and developing educational programmes for developing professionals.

Ways to participate

There are various ways in which you can participate in HC2008, described below. If your preferred means is not here, contact the conference organisers who are keen to hear your suggestions.

The deadline for submissions is 23 November 2007.

Acceptance will be notified by mid January 2008.

Further details are available on the conference website HC2008 : BCS or from the Conference Secretariat at hc@amiconf.demon.co.uk. For material that will be published in the conference proceedings, instructions to authors must be strictly adhered to in order to enable acceptance. All submissions must clearly relate to one or more of the mini-conference topics, should include some view of the future and will be quality reviewed. No conference presentations may be used to market commercial solutions or services.

Visit the Healthcare Computing 2008: An Invitation to the Future web page for more info