The survey received 124 respondents – a very healthy representative sample of the total of 480 delegates who attended the event, held at the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) in London in June.

With the dates of next year’s congress at the RCP now confirmed as 11-13 June, 2018, more than 95 per cent of delegates agreed that this year’s event had met its main theme, ‘Visioning the future: Designing for change in people-centred health systems’, while 93.3 per cent described the speaker programme as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’.

Brilliant, enthusiastic speakers
Several sessions proved extremely popular with respondents, with the keynote presentations on both days really standing out. Indeed, Daniel Glaser, a neuroscientist and director of Science Gallery at King’s College London, and Vivienne Parry, head of engagement at Genomics England, received huge praise from survey respondents. One delegate described the pair as “brilliant speakers, so enthusiastic about their own fields but also about creating synergies with other diverse fields”. Another said: “Daniel Glaser and Vivienne Parry – fascinating and engaging!” 

The Clinicians for Design stream, run by Dr Eve Edelstein, director of the Perkins+Will Human Experience Lab, and her colleague and dochitect Diana Anderson, was also particularly well received.

One delegate, who described the stream as excellent, said: “This is a very important area and it was great being in a room full of inspiring people with diverse backgrounds – this session deserves further support and wider attention.” Another described the stream as a “very engaging, interesting discussion regarding what the clinical teams’ concerns are, [and their] drivers, focus or research in their day-to-day activity”.

Asked for the main reason why they attended the congress, the overwhelming majority (43 per cent) cited professional development, with networking opportunities and the speaker programme – 21.6 per cent and 20.5 per cent, respectively – also proving to be key motivations.

The survey results suggest the congress more than delivered on these expectations. Asked whether the congress provided opportunities for quality networking, 75.6 per cent replied ‘definitely’ with a further 23.3 per cent responding ‘to some degree’.

Quizzed on the actions they have taken, or plan to take, as a result of participation at the event, sharing knowledge and learning with colleagues were by far the leading activities (56.5 per cent), while 39 per cent said they had, or would be, arranging meetings or requesting further information from exhibitors, sponsors, delegates or speakers.

Planning to attend next year
The quality of past European Healthcare Design congresses can be seen by the fact that nearly 41 per cent of respondents said they had first heard about the congress through a recommendation from a colleague or business associate. And asked whether they would recommend attending the conference to a colleague, 96.6 per cent replied positively, with not one person saying they wouldn’t.

Plans for next year’s congress have already received a boost with 76 per cent saying they plan to return as delegates next year, with the remaining respondents unsure at this stage; again, not one person responded negatively.

Overall, 97.7 per cent of people rated the conference as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’.

The survey, of course, raised a number of areas where respondents felt small improvements could be made, and the organisers will be taking these on board as they begin preparations for next year’s event.

Architects for Health and SALUS, along with the International Union of Architects’ Public Health Group (UIA-PHG), which incorporated its annual members-only seminar as part of the event, and Clinicians for Design would like to thank everyone – partners, sponsors, exhibitors, speakers and delegates – for their informative, inspiring, thought-provoking and entertaining contributions to a hugely successful and exciting congress.

Marc Sansom, managing director of SALUS, commented: “Since launching in 2015, the congress has gone from strength to strength. At the heart of the success has been the collaboration with our co-organisers at Architects for Health, and our other UK and international partners and sponsors.

“In a year when we tragically lost the congress programme chair and co-creator, Susan Francis, we’re humbled that our shared vision to inspire, educate and entertain through exceptional content and a rich international dialogue has been embraced by interdisciplinary researchers, practitioners and policy advisors from all over the world who are returning every year.”

The survey was conducted by CRT Viewpoint, which provides real-time feedback solutions, data analysis capability and quality improvement expertise across the health and private sectors.