Our flagship networking event brings together clinical leaders with researchers and innovators to help address region's most pressing health needs
Dr Shera Chok chatting with Steven Vogel
Dr Shera Chok, Christine McGrath and William Rosenberg
Dr Shera Chok chatting with Erioluwa Ajibade
Sarah Williams chairs the session: Conversation - Combining actions
Richard Booth chatting with Helen Atherton
Frances Wiseman chatting with Erioluwa Ajibade
Kathy Wallis is chatting with Julie Northam
Conversation: Harnessing data for local population health benefit - our regional response
Partners in the selfie frame
The Big Conversation 2025 was designed to enable leaders in community and primary care to talk about their priorities and challenges, and explore how researchers and innovators can help accelerate better patient care.
The day aimed to:
1. Gain insight into the national perspective relating to integrated working in community and primary care
2. Hear from system leaders how strategies and plans to address local priorities and needs are progressing
3. Improve understanding of
4. Increase shared knowledge of who is doing what, where, and to expand personal networks
5. Shape how we work together in partnership to drive transformation and improvement for mutual benefit
In her keynote presentation, Dr Shera Chok, a London-based GP and the NIHR's National Lead for Community Settings, spoke of the challenges involved in carrying out research in community settings when compared to hospital settings.
Generally there is a lack resources, infrastructure, expertise, capacity and funding. Research career pathways and opportunities are not always clear, and research teams lack diversity which impacts on the depth and quality of research.
She said: "Community settings are a cinderella service compared to acute - not as glamorous as robitics or genomics or AI or surgery. The complexity in these settings is enormous, and there's also a data vacuum."
Dr Chok explained how the Clinical Effectiveness Group in North East London is creating a research-enabled Learning Health System for public and patient benefit. This has helped reduce time for kidney specialist opinions and reduce delays in cancer diagnoses. They've also helped deliver improvements in cholesterol and hypertension control.
Event feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive. Anna Badley and Kennifer Malpass of Co-Lab, said: "It was so good to connect with community people and partners and discuss all things community research. There is so much brilliant work already happening - connecting researchers and making this work visible is a top priority."
Eiroluwa Ajibade, Digital Specialist Practioner, University Hospitals Dorset, said: "I am so grateful for a day filled with thought-provoking conversations and meaningful connections. It was truly time well spend listening to inspiring speakers and engaging wtih brilliant leaders."
Sarah Chessell, Dorset Innovation Hub Lead, said: "This was a valuable day spent networking with colleagues with great presentations, opportunities to develop programmes and raise awareness of the amazing work already being done."
Christine McGrath, Managing Director, Wessex Health Partners, said: "The aim of today was to start new conversations - we want everyone to carry on these conversations, and for this to lead to action - this is how, as a region, we will work together to accelerate change."
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