Following the shake-up of healthcare after the general election, 2015 proved to be a crucial year to all healthcare professionals especially in terms of new regulations. With this in mind, the Commissioning LIVE event series aimed to keep the commissioning profession up to date with the latest guidance and best practice to find new and innovative ways to address the changing needs of patients. The last Commissioning LIVE event of the year took place in Manchester on the 24th November and saw 400+ attendees including commissioners, pharmacists, CCG board members, GPs, practice managers, nurses and many more. Mainly coming from the North West and London regions, delegates were able to network and start discussions with experts in healthcare. With 6 different conference streams this year, delegates were able to select their topics of interest, move from a conference room to another and exchange with 70+ expert speakers. The most popular sessions included:
  • The NHS is going paperless – Is your roadmap ready for April 2016? By Inderjit Singh, Head of Enterprise Architecture and Dr Paul Rice, Head of Technology Strategy at NHS England
  • An exciting panel discussion on devolution posing the question: What does devolution mean for national commissioning?
  • A keynote address from Dr Chaand Nagpaul, Chair of GPC discussing the 5 year forward view one year on
  • Are federations the future of the NHS? from Nicky Collins, Partner at Browne Jacobson LLP
  • How commissioning regulations help deliver new models of care by Sondra Roberto, Competition Senior Enquiries Lead, Cooperation’s and Competitions Directorates Team – Monitor
Delegates and speakers were both excited about this annual gathering in Manchester and being able to address the critical challenges for the commissioning profession: “Great speech from @CPWYRobbie about making more use of community pharmacy #CommissioningLive” - @Babir1981 “At #commissioninglive passionate discussion about practice nurse development programme” - @Suecassin “Had a good day. Great to hear @TheBMA @CNagpaul are engaging with @ResilientGP and @cgps_gp at  #CommissioningLIVE” - @hinaqs “Good to speak to full house at #CommissioningLive on GPs working collaboratively as providers rather than as commissioners” - @CNagpaul “Excellent opportunity to develop my knowledge of current theories and practice in relation to commissioning, new service development and different ways of working. The whole day offered up to date information on what we can expect in terms of integration of health and social care and devolution in the Greater Manchester area” – Ellen Brookes, Nurse “Thought provoking sessions to assist us in re-energising back in practice” – Julie Wilson, Practice Manager Alongside the conference, the exhibition welcomed 44 companies showcasing a wide array of solutions and novel technologies designed to overcome critical healthcare challenges. The exhibition was very diverse and covered a wide range of healthcare brands including pharmaceutical companies and medical supplies companies. Whether you worked in finance, general practice, pharmacy, contract management or IT, there was something beneficial to take away from Commissioning LIVE Manchester. The Commissioning LIVE events will come back in 2016 starting with London on 3rd March. For more information click here.