HIT event shows Bristol's challenge to golden triangle

Bristol Health Partners held its first annual Health Integration Team (HIT) conference on 2 June, which was attended by more than 120 academics, clinicians, commissioners and others from organisations across Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset.

Feedback has been positive from those attending the conference – and thank you to those who completed an evaluation form. The surgery and networking opportunities were particular highlights and there was enthusiasm for the HIT presentations too. As one person said, “I love hearing about the HITs”. Evaluation and feedback on the day have highlighted lessons for future conferences on what worked well and what could be improved

There was a packed agenda for the day, including workshops and presentations during the morning on evaluation, working with industry, effective communications and patient and public involvement. These were followed by surgeries with experts on these topics, as well as commissioning, business case development and the CLAHRC project.

The afternoon saw presentations from all 15 active Health Integration Teams. This session was attended by Bristol Health Partners Board and Executive Group members, commissioners and peers from other HITs.

All the presentations from the day are available on the Bristol Health Partners website.Bristol Health Partners Chair Andrea Young said: “I was so impressed with all the HIT presentations. They really underlined the diversity and creativity of our Health Integration Teams. If we continue in this way, Bristol could be a real challenger to the ‘golden triangle’ of London, Oxford and Cambridge. I am already looking forward to next year’s conference, where I expect we will hear even more about the positive outcomes the work of the HITs will deliver for both patients and the population of Bristol. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who was involved in the day, from organising, to presenting, to running surgeries. I would especially like to thank Lisa Wheatley and Lauren Dennis – the day would not have been such a success without all their hard work.”