Almost 100 colleagues and guest speakers attended our inaugural Nursing and Midwifery Conference last Friday, held at the University of Huddersfield.

A range of topics were covered during the day, including health inequalities, creating a compassionate culture and digital innovation. As part of the event the ideas were captured and illustrated to show all the enthusiasm and creativity in the rooms – you can see it in the attachment below.

Engagement support worker and former Project Search colleague, Toseef Ahmed, answered questions on health inequalities alongside Chief Nurse Lindsay Rudge, Lead Nurse Amanda McKie and Project Search Job Coach, Tracey Thompson. 

Toseef said: “We want to help people to see our ability, not our disability.” Tracy added: “We want to look at diversifying the NHS workforce and show that people with learning disabilities are just as good.”

There was great feedback from attendee, with Clinical Educator, Stevie O’Connell saying: "Working as a midwife I don’t always understand the background of inequality, but seeing today what the Trust is doing to rectify that was eye opening."

There was a real sense of team building throughout the conference. Anticipatory Care Practitioner, Michelle Sykes tweeted: "Whether we are a nursing or AHP colleague we have the same goal of #OneCultureOfCare." Surgical Matron, Sarah Wallwork also tweeted: "Amazing to see colleagues collectively creating the power of nursing."

Speaking after the conference, Associate Director of Nursing, Andrea Dauris said: "The conference was a great success, drawing fabulous speakers from a number of different settings. It provided an opportunity to showcase the amazing work that has been done against the Nursing and Midwifery Time to Care Strategy. There was a real buzz and energy in the room that I would love to have bottled!”

Special thanks to Alex Keaskin, Steph Jones and Kathy Bray for their support in setting up and running the whole event. You've set the bar high for next year!