SAPC ASM 2023 Welcome

I am really excited to welcome you all to this year’s annual scientific meeting, which we are hosting for the first time ever in Brighton. This is SAPC’s second in-person conference since the restrictions necessitated by the covid-19 pandemic have been lifted, and we hope to make it a very special and memorable experience for all.

The theme of the conference this year is Informed and Inclusive Primary Care. Recent years have seen the gap between the least and most well-off in society widen, and this is reflected in a wide range of metrics that illustrate the impact of this inequity in the health and social care space too.  

This conference theme means that we can look forward to some incredible, engaging and inspiring plenary sessions that will orientate us towards a deeper consideration of health inequalities, and how our work might address these. We have a stellar line-up of speakers and presenters who will showcase work in this domain.  However, we look forward to welcoming submissions of work (posters, oral presentations and workshops) that reflects the broad range and scope of academic primary care. The deadline for abstract, poster and workshop submissions is fast approaching – so get typing and submitting! More guidance on this will be available, as will some hints and tips about preparing and presenting your work, which we hope will help you feel welcome and at ease amongst our scholarly community.

We will have our traditional pre-conference meetings of the Heads of Teaching, Heads of Departments and Special Interest Groups – who will have a ‘SIG Café’, on the Tuesday. The main conference will then launch with a welcome address and novel plenary on Wednesday morning. We will look forward to a diverse range of parallel sessions showcasing work that colleagues across the academic primary care spectrum are engaging in through, and have an exciting seaside Conference Celebration planned for the Wednesday evening. The second day of the conference will begin with a second welcome and opening, with this year’s Helen Lester Memorial Lecture, which will then be followed by another range of parallel sessions. Thursday will also see our prizes, joint awards and annual general meeting (AGM) being brought centre-stage in the middle of the day. The whole event promises to combine a celebration and sharing of the great work that our community does, whilst also platforming, front-and-centre, the very reason our work is so necessary.

I look forward to welcoming you in July and can’t wait to see you there!

Best wishes

Duncan

Dr Duncan Shrewsbury (they/them)

Reader in Clinical Education & Primary Care, BSMS

Conference chair

A note on covid:

We know that large gatherings can still pose a significant risk to the spread of covid-19 strains. We feel that, as a society promoting best evidence and practice in primary healthcare, we have a responsibility to be sensitive to this risk. As such, we will be ensuring that the conference venue is well ventilated, observes guidance around hygiene and distancing (where possible). We would ask that, if possible, you check you do not have covid-19 before attending (for example, using a lateral flow test – although we appreciate these are not as readily available as they were previously*). We would also like to encourage people to wear a face covering where adequate social distancing is not possible indoors. To support this, we will have a limited number of disposable face masks available at key points.

Eligibility for free lateral flow tests kits from the gov.uk website include: working in an NHS setting, or a private provider being commissioned to deliver NHS service; having Covid-19 symptoms; you are due to be admitted to hospital for treatment; or your GP has advised you take a test. A variety of private providers supply lateral flow test kits from as little as £2 each if you are not eligible, but wish, to have a test done.

A note on virtual attendance:

The organising committee are sensitive to the fact that travel to attend in-person events may not be possible, easy or comfortable for all. We wish to be as inclusive as possible with the work we do, including the opportunities to participate in events like the ASM. Having done a great deal of homework on this matter, we realise that a formal ‘hybrid’ or ‘online’ offering is well outside of any budgetary possibilities, but still wish to find a way of making it work. Because of this, we will be using a different version of an online communications platform to provide dial-in options for remote viewing (and participation via the chat function) that will be supported by one of our conference volunteers. The technology that we will be using imposes a cap of about 20 attendees, so ‘spaces’ to attend the conference virtually will be limited, and available on a first-come-first-serve basis for those who meet the eligibility criteria (more info on booking page).