Bringing the Health Integration Teams together: the 2016 HIT conference

Bristol Health Partners Health Integration Teams had their annual opportunity to share progress and network with each other, at the annual Health Integration Team (HIT) conference on 17 June. The conference was attended by more than 140 academics, clinicians, commissioners, patients and others from organisations across Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset.

We launched the 2015-16 Bristol Health Partners annual review at the conference and 18 HITs gave presentations on their work so far, including their achievements and challenges they’ve faced. For the first time, HITs played Bristol Health Partner-opoly, a walking game which challenged HITs to identify new ways of collaborating with each other.

The day kicked off with an introduction from Andrea Young, Chief Executive of North Bristol Trust and Chair of the Bristol Health Partners Board, which was followed by David Relph, Bristol Health Partners Director, who emphasised the vital role the HITs play in the work of the partnership.

The packed agenda also included an overview of the wider strategic context, given by clinical and public health commissioners and strategy leads from the partnership, which focused on the Health and Wellbeing Board, the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment and the Sustainability and Transformation Plan. Workshops included commissioning, patient and public involvement (PPI), and evidence and evaluation.

Bristol Health Partners Director David Relph said:

“This year’s HIT conference was
another tour de force, with a packed agenda and a real buzz in the room. This
conference is the most important annual event we run as a partnership and is a
vital element of our support of the growing community of HITs. The
conference gives them a unique opportunity to learn from each other and share
ideas.

“Many people have been involved in making the day a success, but I’d like
to thank Lisa Wheatley and Ailis Campbell in particular for their hard work and
commitment in making the event run so smoothly and offering so many different
opportunities for collaboration. A really impressive achievement and another
great day.”

Feedback from the day

This is a rare networking opportunity for the HITs, and this element of the event was particularly valuable to attendees. Feedback suggests overwhelmingly that the conference was valuable both for learning about the HITs and as a networking opportunity, while the combination of HIT presentations and information on the wider strategic context was also mentioned as useful by a significant number of people. The collaborative atmosphere was mentioned as useful too.

Feedback has been positive – and thank you to those who completed an evaluation form. Feedback has highlighted lessons for future conferences on what worked well and what could be improved. A full report will be available soon, but some comments include:

“Informative, interesting and inspiring. Great networking opportunity.”

“Thought provoking, fun and a very clever idea to do Partner-opoly.”

“Good to get the combination of detail of HITs, and the broad, strategic overview.”

For those who attended and haven’t yet completed a form, please send your completed evaluation form to Trish Harding on [email protected] or:

Trish Harding
Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust
Fromeside – East Wing, Blackberry Hill Hospital
Manor Road, Fishponds
Bristol
BS16 2EW

Who said what?

All presentations from the day are available on the Bristol Health Partners website. Videos from the sessions are available on our YouTube channel.

Attendees were very active on Twitter during the day, with #BHPhitconf being very well used.

#BHPhitconf If you want to go fast, go it alone, if you want to go far, go together @AvonNHSRD

— Sian Jones (@EvidentlySian) 17 June 2016

Very interesting day at the #BHPhitconf particularly enjoyed session on evidence and evaluation and the chance to discuss my business plan

— Robin Holmes (@rbholmes26) 17 June 2016

How can we make evidence-based de-commissioning work..for what doesn’t work? #BHPhitconf

— crnwestofengland (@crnwestengland) 17 June 2016

Hugh Herzig: Why an #EatingDisorders HIT? #BHPhitconf #BHPedhit #collab #prevention #treatment #research #SUCCEED pic.twitter.com/ZXPBbC2qI2

— AWP R&D (@AWP_RD) 17 June 2016