Auckland to Host Australasian Long -Term Conditions Conference 29-30 July
Delegates challenged to rethink prevention and treatment of long-term conditions in the broader context of healthcare
17 June 2014 – The Long-Term Conditions Clinical Network and The Health Navigator Charitable Trust will host the second
international conference championing new models of care for people and communities with long term conditions.
There is increasing recognition among clinicians and policy makers about the impact of long-term conditions on acute
demand, escalating healthcare costs and overloaded hospitals. Over the last forty years, the health needs of our
population have changed dramatically, yet the health system remains predominantly focused on acute conditions and the
provision of acute, episodic care.
The Conference, entitled ‘Health – the art of the possible’ will canvas local and international experience in integrated
care, some of the wide range of technology enablers, the positive elements of healthy aging and strategies for living
well with long-term conditions.
Over 40 speakers are confirmed from the USA, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, including:
• Dr Nick Goodwin, CEO, International Foundation for Integrated Care, UK
• Professor Chad Boult – an expert in models of care for persons with complex health needs
• Dr Sue Wells and Dr Robyn Whittaker, both recent Harkness Fellows and experts at applying new technology tools
to help support people and their health.
• Ross Dawson, business commentator and futurist.
‘Long-term conditions (such as diabetes, arthritis, recurrent depression, heart disease, chronic lung disease and many
more) have a major impact on families, communities and the country as a whole through premature morbidity and mortality
as well as escalating costs and overloaded hospitals’ says Dr Janine Bycroft, Clinical Director of Health Navigator
Charitable Trust and co-convenor of the Long-Term Conditions Conference . ‘ A major paradigm shift is needed in how we
(as clinicians) work with patients so people with long-term conditions become more like partners in their own
healthcare; and we also need aligned incentives to integrate community and hospital services to improve patient
experience and safety, health outcomes, efficiencies, effectiveness and equity.’
Health – the art of the possible will appeal to health professionals, funders, researchers, consumers, policy makers and all those with an interest in
long-term conditions.
For more information on the programme and speakers, and to register http://www.healthnavigator.org.nz/conference/
Speakers bios:
Dr Nick Goodwin, CEO, International Foundation for Integrated Care & Senior Associate, The King's Fund, London, UK
Nick is a social scientist, academic and policy analyst and cofounder/CEO of the International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC), a notforprofit membershipbased foundation dedicated to improving the science, knowledge and application of
integrated health care across the world. He is EditorinChief of its scientific periodical the International Journal of Integrated Care. Nick also works as a Senior Associate at The King’s Fund, London and previously led its programme of research for improving and integrating care to older people and those with
longterm conditions. Nick's current portfolio of work includes UK, US and Europeanbased casestudy research examining the
development and impact of integrated care to people with complex and longterm health problems. Nick supports
international commitments to the application of integrated care as part of the European Innovation Partnership on Active
and Healthy Ageing and is leading work for the World Health Organisation to support the development of a global strategy
for personcentered and integrated care.
Dr Chad Boult, MD, MPH, MBA
Chad Boult is a Professor of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr
Boult holds joint appointments on the faculties of the Johns Hopkins University Schools of Medicine and Nursing. A
geriatrician for more than 20 years, he has extensive experience in developing, testing, evaluating, and diffusing new
models of health care for older people. As an expert on chronic care, Dr Boult has spoken at meetings and conferences
throughout the world. He teaches two graduate-level courses Innovations in Health Care for Aging Populations and New
Frontiers in Gerontology and is author of a 2009 book Guided Care: A New Nurse-Physician Partnership in Chronic Care.
From 2000-2005, he edited the Models and Systems of Geriatric Care section of the Journal of the American Geriatrics
Society, and he has reviewed manuscripts for 20 scientific. During 2009-2010, Dr Boult served as a “Health and Aging
Policy Fellow” at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
Dr Susan Wells, Senior Lecturer at the School of Population Health, University of Auckland
Susan was a GP for 10 years before becoming a public health medicine specialist and moving into a research career
focusing on improving care for heart disease and diabetes via ehealth initiatives. She coordinated the content of the
web-based decision support tool, PREDICT, for assessing and managing cardiovascular and diabetes risk and also pioneered
the tool “Your Heart Forecast” to facilitate CVD risk communication.Sue has just come back to New Zealand after a 12
month U.S Harkness Fellowship in Health Policy and Practice. Her main focus of research in USA was patient engagement
and interaction with health services via patient portals and how organizations were maximizing the benefits for those
with chronic disease.
Dr Robyn Whittaker, Public Health Physician, Researcher and Mobile Health Specialist
Health programmes can be integrated into daily life…they are proactive and there at the ‘right’ times, can be
personalised, interactive and provide a level of social support for self-management of long-term conditions and chronic
diseases. Robyn Whittaker has led the development of multimedia mobile phone programmes for smoking cessation and
depression prevention and is Principal Investigator on studies (STUB IT and ADAPT). She is programme leader, Health
Informatics and Technology in the National Institute for Health Innovation, University of Auckland and Clinical Leader
research and innovation at Waitemata DHB and its Centre for Health Technology and Creative Design. Robyn graduated in
medicine from The University of Auckland and worked in hospitals and Family Planning Association clinics before
undertaking a Masters in Public Health. Her experience in long-term conditions has included establishing and
implementing a Cardiovascular Health Project for Waitemata, involving tobacco control, improving nutrition and physical
activity, electronic decision support, cardiac rehabilitation and organised stroke care. Robyn's wide experience in
developments arising from mobile phone text messaging programmes has included implementation as a national smoking
cessation programme in New Zealand ‘Txt2quit’; licensing for international use to HSA Global; and collaboration with the
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Robyn spent a year in Washington DC, USA as a Harkness Fellow in
HealthCare Policy and Practice and has been consulting to the WHO tobacco free initiative, IBM, the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services Text4Health Taskforce. She is a Fellow of the New Zealand College of Public Health Medicine
Ross Dawson, leading futurist, entrepreneur, keynote speaker, strategy advisor, and bestselling author
Ross Dawson is globally recognized as a leading futurist. He is Founding Chairman of four companies, including the
leading future research and strategy firm Future Exploration Network. He contributes to events around the world. He is a
best-selling author of books including the prescient Living Networks, which foresaw the social networking revolution, as
well as Trends in the Living Networks, ranked as one of the top business blogs in the world. Ross’s media appearances
include CNN, Bloomberg TV, SkyNews, ABC TV, Today and Sunrise shows, Washington Post and many others. Ross sees
healthcare as one of the most uncertain futures of any industry today as health technologies are developing beyond our
pace of understanding, systems are so complex and there potential for new kinds of health risks (and wellness benefits)
to emerge and unpredictable social responses to these changes.
ENDS