The European Health Conference 2019

The European Health Conference in Gastein, Austria clearly has a mythical status but without having been, I found it hard to get a feel for exactly what it involved. All I knew was: everyone seemed to be going. So this year, when our office helped to get Indra Joshi from NHSX a main stage speaking slot on AI, I knew the time had come. I set off to support her, to learn from our neighbours’ experiences with health systems, and to promote the work of the NHS European Office. 

Gastein turns out to be an alpine village with conference venues and hotels spread out around a park, with a backdrop of snow-capped mountains soaring on every side. And in some ways, it felt like a conference from years gone by. The sessions followed the theme du jour of disruptive innovation. I saw my first play about the future of healthcare financing. I heard a lot about various digital matters. I went to a most enjoyable #fakenews session, and I chaired one on overcoming barriers in genomic medicine.

The topics were interesting. What was more interesting was the attendees: it’s a relatively small event but it takes over the village. With health ministers everywhere you looked, and senior representatives of EU institutions breakfasting next to you, it became clear that Gastein’s formal plenaries and workshops function largely as a reason to bring these people together and get them talking. As Britain prepares to leave the EU, relationships with health leaders in our neighbouring countries will become more important than ever. I learned a little about disruptive innovation at Gastein; I learned more from my dinner companions. And I left with a lot of business cards - and I’ll be using them to benefit the NHS.