NICON 2021
NICON returned for 2021. As with last year’s hugely successful conference, this year’s event took place online.
Over the past 18 months, COVID-19 has presented Northern Ireland’s Health and Social Care (HSC) with immense challenges that have required novel and innovative whole-system responses. As the vaccination programme provides hope for a pathway out of the pandemic, NICON looked towards October 2021, a date which marks the halfway point of Health & Wellbeing 2026: Delivering Together, and invited delegates to join its annual conference to consider what the next five years should hold for the HSC.
Delegates heard from a wide range of local leaders, international speakers and frontline staff on the work they have been pioneering over the past year.
Keynote speakers included:
- Robin Swann MLA, Minister of Health for Northern Ireland
- Richard Pengelly, Chief Executive of the HSC, Permanent Secretary, Department of Health, Northern Ireland
- Sir Michael Marmot, Professor of Epidemiology at University College London; Director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity
- Sir Norman Lamb, Chair, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
- Maureen Bisognano, President Emerita and Senior Fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement
- Hugh McCaughey, National Director of Improvement, NHS England and NHS Improvement
- Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive, NHS Confederation
- Professor Charlotte McArdle, Chief Nursing Officer, Department of Health
- Dr Elaine Maxwell, Clinical Adviser, National Institute for Health (NIHR)
- Rob Webster, CEO, South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust; Lead CEO for West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership
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This year's sessions centered around a number of cross-cutting themes:
