The 23rd International Conference on Integrated Care – 22-24 May 2023: CCRI in Antwerp!
The 23rd International Conference on Integrated Care was held 22-24 May 2023 in Antwerp, Flanders. The theme was ‘Care in action: How to work together, a participatory approach’.
I was very lucky to have the opportunity to travel to Belgium to attend, to represent the CCRI, and present on findings from our Enabling Better Care at the End of Life for the Central Coast Community project. This project speaks to the heart of the conference theme, as it brought a multidisciplinary clinical team together to work on improving palliative care for the Central Coast. If you’re interested in watching the presentation, you can do so here: Session 10.C Approaches to improving EoLC and Palliative Care #ICIC23 – YouTube
The three-day conference was an all-consuming delight. I’ve selected a couple of highlights to share:
- There was a great conference app, which allowed you to view the program, craft your own agenda, and connect with people that you met in the virtual ‘meeting hub’. This saved the need for paper programs and business cards. A great outcome for the trees!
- In addition to the main program, there were these fantastic ‘off-site activities’. For example, Day 2 started with a morning walk around Antwerp Zoo. Later that day I got to travel by tram to Sint-Andries to do a site visit to learn about one of the caring neighbourhood projects taking place in Flanders.
- While I was disappointed to not discover the panacea for the challenges faced in integrating health and social care, I was able to come away with practical ideas and solutions for how we can take steps towards seamless care for all Australians.
- I also found a ‘tribe’ of likeminded individuals from across the world, all passionate about improving health and wellbeing, and creating a more joined up health and care system which is centred on the needs of individuals, families, and communities.
I am excited to hopefully meet again with some of these old and new-found friends at our Asia Pacific Conference on Integrated Care, which will be held 13-15 November 2023 in Sydney.
Beyond that, I’ll be dreaming of sipping Irish coffees at ICIC24 in Belfast in April 2024…
– CCRI’s Research Project Manager, Dr Zoi Triandafilidis
