New Health+Care show draws thousands of visitors

A new healthcare event was hailed a success last week after it was visited by thousands of people interested in the future of healthcare integration and mobility aid development to improve care in the home.

Established by exhibitions specialist CloserStill Media, Health+Care was a brand new event which aimed to provide a platform for discussion of the healthcare and social care system in the UK. The Home Care Show and The Residential Care Show joined the Health+Care Integration conference to form three new events which have proven to be incredibly popular in their launching year.

The shows were added to the Commissioning Show, a well-established event which allows visitors to share their views on NHS commissioning, and the success of these new events can clearly be seen in the attendance numbers which have grown by 43% since last year.

Around 6,500 people visited the Health+Care show on 12^th and 13^th June this year, making the event the largest in the UK to deal with the various issues that each show raises. Ralph Collett, the Director of Medical at CloserStill Media, has said that the creation of these new shows to join with the Commissioning Show is "important" if we want to achieve the goal of having "a truly integrated healthcare system" in the UK, something which both government officials and healthcare professionals have shown their support for in the media.

A number of important keynote speakers drew thousands of people to attend the event, including Norman Lamb MP, Minister of State for Care and Support; Andy Burnham MP, Labour Party Shadow Health Secretary; Andrea Sutcliffe, CEO of Social Care Institute for Excellence and Dementia Tsar Professor Alistair Burns.

Preparations are already underway for the Health+Care show in 2014, and the date has already been set for 25^th-26^th June. The venue will again be Excel in London, and the popularity of the Health+Care show in 2013 has meant that 10% of the people who attended this year have already reserved their passes for 2014.

Tom Vine, Health+Care event director, has said that he is already looking forward to what the show will bring in 2014, and he plans for there to be even more expert speakers alongside exhibitors of the latest home care technology, including stairlifts and other mobility aids. The aim is to give professionals from all areas of health and social care a stage to voice their views and give "a 360° approach to delivery" in terms of caring for people in hospitals and at home.

Image Credit: Liline sur Flickr (flickr.com)