18 January 2012

HC2012 - the health informatics congress run by BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, in association with The Guardian, will be free for delegates this year. Registration is now open for the event which will take place at the Business Design Centre, London, 2-3 May 2012.  

Matthew Swindells, Chair of BCS Health says; “This year in light of the difficult economic conditions in which many healthcare professionals are operating, we’re delighted to announce that HC2012, both conference and exhibition will be free to delegates.

“Our decision reflects the importance that health informatics plays in our healthcare system today and the demand for our conference and exhibition which has become the definitive event for the healthcare IT and information industry."

The programme for the two day conference will be split across a number of streams including a focus on policy changes and how they impact health informatics. The conference will feature several high profile speakers including: Mike Farrar, Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation, Jim Easton, NHS National Director for Improvement and Efficiency, Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention (QIPP), and Dr. Charles Gutteridge, National Director for Informatics. The event will be chaired by broadcaster Nick Ross a world-class moderator with a longstanding interest in healthcare and information systems.

The conference has already attracted a number of key partners including NICE, the NHS Confederation, the NHS Information Centre, UKTI and Intellect’s Healthcare Council. In addition, BCS is also working in collaboration with the Royal College of Physicians Health Informatics Unit and the Royal College of Psychiatrists Informatics Committee.

Several other organisations will also hold their events within the umbrella of HC2012. They include: the ASSIST Annual Conference, the Institute of Health Records & Information Management (IHRIM) national conference, the UK Faculty of Health and the Multidisciplinary Assessment of Technology Centre for Healthcare (MATCH) which will run its annual Public Interest Forum.

Matthew concludes: “I’m delighted that this year yet again we have a very full and strong programme. There is literally something for everyone involved in health informatics, whether it’s learning from our international guest speakers - this year we’ve got speakers from Australia, China, Romania, Georgia, France and Norway - or enjoying the practical skills workshops and best practice theatre. HC2012 is the perfect platform for the profession to demonstrate and showcase best practice and innovation, investment and value.”

Full details can be found at: http://hc2012.bcs.org

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