University of Exeter to host primary care conference

The Conference takes place in The Forum on Streatham Campus between 3^rd – 5^th July. It has over 130 oral presentations and 140 posters that were selected from the hundreds that were submitted as abstracts.

The theme of the conference, now in its’ 48^th year, is ‘Primary Care: Arriving? Or Departing?’ with one of the key elements revisiting the primary health care declaration, made in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan. This primary healthcare approach, agreed by members of the World Health Organisation, has been the key to achieving the goal of ‘health for all’.

The statement was recently updated in 2018 at a meeting in Astana and the SAPC conference in Exeter includes a workshop around creating a supporting statement from the UK.

Professor John Campbell, Annual Scientific Meeting 2019 chair and Professor of General Practice and Primary Care, said: “To host such a prestigious and important conference is great for the University and for Exeter as a whole. It puts us on the map in the primary care community. It’s also a great honour to chair the conference this year.

“The Society for Academic Primary Care is the UK’s premier academic primary care body, representing the interests of academic general practice and primary care across UK HEI. The Annual Scientific Meeting is the major, annual focus of the Society’s work and brings together a range of primary care clinicians, academics and scientists. We’re delighted to be hosting such a diverse and interesting range of research presentations, and with three outstanding plenary speakers addressing the conference.”

Professor Kate O’Donnell, Chair of SAPC said: “The Annual Scientific Meeting is the highlight of SAPC’s year. We are delighted to be coming to Exeter for the first time. The University of Exeter has chosen a very topical and relevant theme for primary care, at a time when we face great challenges. The conference will highlight the both the quality and breadth of primary care research in the UK and support our up and coming researchers. We know it will be a special occasion.”

Professor Gene Feder OBE from University of Bristol is presenting the 6th Helen Lester Memorial Lecture. This is a public lecture in memory of Prof Helen Lester who was a GP mental health champion and chair of SAPC up until her passing in 2013. Prof Gene Feder’s lecture is titled ‘Domestic violence and Childhood Adverse Experiences: who cares?’ This takes place Wednesday 3^rd 17.30 – 18.15 and you can book to attend here.

The annual general meeting also signals the end of Prof Kate O’Donnell from Glasgow University three year tenure as chair of the society, handing over the role over to Prof Carolyn Chew-Graham from Keele University.

Tickets are available here and bursaries are also available here along with eligibility criteria. To keep up to date with the conference, follow @sapcacuk and #sapcasm on Twitter.