Healthcare Review of LCS' 6th Annual Conference

November 2, 2005

The LCS annual healthcare conference took place this month at One Birdcage Walk in Westminster. Like last year it fully met expectations as one of the key conferences of the year that brings together all the leaders in the health and social care sectors in this country. The theme of this year’s conference was ‘Pluralism and Real Patient Choice’ providing a forward look at the challenges, opportunities and levers that will drive change and deliver a community and customer-responsive family health service.

Like in previous years 18 people were chosen again to present to the audience their insights and perspectives on the direction of the markets over the next 12-18 months. The speakers list included senior strategists in the NHS and DoH and Independent Sector providers who stood up and made presentations that were not mere commentaries on the sector but provided strategic insights into achieving radical change in healthcare and meeting customer’s growing expectations. Once again the LCS event proved massively popular with both the NHS and independent sector alike with the audience encompassing senior people from the public and private sectors alike. The well-informed audience truly tested the speakers in the grilling Q and A sessions that followed all the four sessions.

Key note speakers included Ken Anderson the Commercial Director of the DoH who delivered a very insightful presentation outlining the reform policy and the IS programme. Ken sought to emphasise contestability, the sustainable IS market and choice as the three fundamental economic drivers of system reform. He also spoke in general terms about the role of the IS programme and the benefits of Central Procurement which fuelled the stimulating discussions in the Q and A. The audience also appreciated Tim Elsigood who spoke about the importance of having better information on outcomes and comparability in future to facilitate patient choice. Later in the day his views were also backed up by Dr Derek Bickerstaff from the One Health Group who provided the view from the perspective of a Doctor’s chambers group. Mike Parish continued his ‘good form’ delivering yet another very articulate and comprehensive presentation after his much acclaimed ‘barnstorming’ performance from last year. One of the key themes that emerged on the day was the breaking down of barriers between health and social care. Sir Cyril Chantler and Ian Smith were others to garner rave reviews from the audience. Audience were still enjoying the reception that followed the conference 12 hours after many of them had originally arrived at the venue for coffee and a danish in the morning.

The conference was sponsored by The Times, RBS and 3i and supported by Bevan Brittan, Cold Harbour Systems, Wheale Thomas Hodgins Plc, IHF, Adam Smith Institute, CIVITAS and the Stockholm Network. Some of the speeches can be viewed early next month on the LCS website: www.lcsic.com.

Healthcare Bi-Weekly spoke to two of the silver sponsors of the event who were happy to be associated with the event, and as far as they were concerned in terms of the quality of the speakers, the audience profile and the level of interaction in the Q and A sessions this was no doubt the healthcare policy event of the year.

Select slides from the conference:

1. Alan Doran – Director, Primary Care White Paper, DoH

2. Sir Cyril Chantler – Chairman, The King’s Fund and Chairman- The Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Trust

3. Dr Derek Bickerstaff – Director, One Health Group

4. Dr Tony Felton – Chief Medical Officer, Clinovia