UK MLTC Symposium 2024

On 18^th April 2024, members of the ADMISSION Research Collaborative within the AGE Research Group, hosted the third annual UK MLTC Symposium.

We welcomed over a hundred academics, clinicians and patient and public representatives to this online event and provided them with the opportunity to hear about the myriad ways in which capacity is being built for future research, teaching and treatment of multiple long-term conditions (MLTC).

The event was opened by lead organiser, Professor Avan Aihie Sayer who was joined by Professor Kamlesh Khunti to deliver the keynote talk showcasing the work of the Multiple Long-Term Conditions Cross-NIHR Collaboration that they co-chair.  This is a new NIHR initiative which has innovative plans for taking MLTC research forward collaboratively and includes a cross-cutting theme on capacity building.

Delegates then heard from Louise Hawkyard, Senior Programme Manager at the NIHR Coordinating Centre, who described the important role of the NIHR Academy in supporting MLTC researchers.  This was followed by talks focused on building capacity in data science for MLTC research delivered by Professor Elizabeth Sapey, a co-investigator on the ADMISSION research collaborative and Director of PIONEER from the University of Birmingham, and Dr Kirstie Whitaker from the Turing Institute.

Professor Gillian Vance, Dr Steven Brown and Dr Richard Bellamy delivered insightful talks on medical education, highlighting the need for changes to undergraduate and postgraduate medical training to better equip tomorrow’s doctors in their roles providing care for the rising number of people living with MLTC.

In a final session, chaired by Professor Rachel Cooper, who is lead for research capacity development within the ADMISSION research collaborative, representatives from four MLTC Communities of Practice (CoP) (Dr Sue Bellass (Manchester Metropolitan University), Dr Stephanie Hanley (University of Birmingham), Dr Jane Masoli and Dr Luke Pilling (University of Exeter)) showcased their excellent work in rapid fire presentations.  These CoP aim to bring together people from across the 6 research collaboratives funded by the UKRI-NIHR Strategic Priorities Fund programme – tackling multimorbidity at scale and beyond to share learning and best practice. It was great to hear the CoP representatives reflect on their experiences of leading these CoP and their thoughts on next steps for continuing to build research capacity in MLTC.

“Thank you for a wonderfully informative and engaging webinar, and thanks so much to all of the fantastic speakers. It is so exciting to see the research community united around MLTCs (and particularly the needs and hopes of people living with them) with such brilliant energy, creativity and sensitivity” – MLTC Symposium Delegate.

We thank all of our speakers and delegates for their excellent contributions to this interdisciplinary and multiprofessional event.  As Professor Miles Witham outlined in his closing summary, the event provided a powerful reminder that capacity building - developing infrastructure, people and processes - is essential for the delivery of better research and care for people living with multiple long-term conditions.

We encourage you all to keep the conversations going that were started during the symposium!

For further information about ADMISSION click here 

Last modified: Fri, 17 May 2024 13:45:08 BST