Invicta’s annual Independence Day Conference held last Friday, 4 July, in the grounds of its HQ in Kent lived up to its paradoxical reputation for being both a relaxed and a lively event.
The morning sessions comprised presentations from consultant Dave Foster (implications of the 21CN changes); Chris Manthorp from the Epic Trust on ‘Creating a client focused Older Persons Strategy’; Jane Bleach who, as a social services care manager in Kent led the pre-WSD Programme telehealth project, and Sara Clarke, CE of the Jewish Community Housing Association. The latter gave an insight into how technology and cultural expectations sometimes collide.
During lunchtime attendees were able to take a tour of the Invicta call monitoring centre. It reinforced awareness of how organised such a centre has it be to handle the number of calls received. (Over 90,000 per month on average last year.)
As can be seen from the photo below, the afternoon got everyone off their seats and involved in advising a group of actors from Arc Theatre over the case of a woman admitted to A&E following a fall, and what her post-discharge options might be. Over the course of an hour the actors, playing family members and a doctor, developed the story which was stopped every five minutes or so for them to consult groups of audience members over their next move in the unfolding dilemma. Surprisingly, it felt very real. True-to-life, moreover – but surprising given the context of the day – it was quite a long time before anyone mentioned the provision of telecare as part of a possible way forward for the patient and her family!
Actor (woman on right) playing the patient’s daughter consults
group over what argument to deploy next
The day finished with a session on service user involvement by Tristan Hodson and Will Myers from the Porchlight charity.
Invicta’s Independence Day was supported by sponsors: Chubb; Cirrus; QuietCare; Supra; Tunstall and Tynetec.