Excellence in Communications via Meetings or Congresses

Summary of work

Against the backdrop of unprecedented pressure on healthcare systems and austerity measures, in 2012 ViiV Healthcare launched HIV Dialogues, a consultation initiative to identify key challenges facing the sustainability of world-class HIV care in the UK. Under this banner, the HIV Services Summit provided a unique and fresh opportunity to bring the HIV community together to debate and prioritise their own ideas on how to move HIV management towards a chronic disease model whilst protecting the quality and accessibility of care. Cleverly designed interactive workshops not only empowered multidisciplinary delegates to work collaboratively to develop 50 action-oriented solutions, but also pinpointed specific opportunities for ViiV support (initiatives now being implemented in 2013). To attract high-calibre delegates, endorsement and participation was sought from highly respected HIV experts and a comprehensive agenda, designed to take delegates on a journey to stimulate thinking and prompt ideas whilst also being broadly educational in content, was developed. Oversubscribed within 2 weeks, the Summit proved to be a chief talking point amongst the HIV community with 97 per cent of attendees giving the meeting a score of 4 or 5 out of 5, 24 individual live highlights posted on Twitter, and a feature piece appearing in GP magazine.

Judges comments

This summit provided a rare and unique opportunity for collaboration. It’s very unusual to have a waiting list for a pharma-organised summit but, such was the level of interest, the response was overwhelming. Particularly impressive was the action-oriented approach and commitment to follow up, as the team set out to carefully identify projects for future implementation and ascertain how the company can add further value, sowing the seeds for lasting contributions to clinical practice.