On 7^th November the Bradford District Care Library and Research Team hosted the Collaborative Learning through Evidence and Research (CLEAR) conference. When I joined the team in September preparations were well underway, and it has been a major focus for everyone ever since! Now that the dust has settled, I wanted to take this opportunity to reflect on the event, and all the work that made it a success.

So… what went well?

Firstly, our choice of venue really helped the day to run smoothly. It was in central Bradford, close to public transport links and with plenty of parking available. Once attendees arrived, the space was easy to navigate; we set up the welcome desk right opposite the entrance and all rooms used for the conference (including facilities like the prayer room and toilets) were along a single corridor which made it easy to direct people throughout the day.

“Lovely venue that was easily accessible, and having food provided was even better!” - Attendee

Another factor that made the event a success was the buy-in which we secured from senior leaders. Therese Patten, our Chief Executive, opened the conference with a welcome to attendees and has really championed the theme of the conference ‘The Power of Evidence: Advancing Equity in Access to Healthcare’. She has encouraged turning the discussions from the day into concrete actions which will make a real difference in our trust.

Therese was followed by the first keynote speaker Sue Lacey-Bryant who gave an expert presentation ‘No-one left behind: reducing health inequalities by improving health literacy’. We were incredibly fortunate to have Sue supporting the event as it set the tone for a high calibre of presentations throughout the day.

“I liked the fact there was a thread that linked the presentations which ran throughout the day. This was about reducing health inequalities and I left feeling pleased that this important question had been addressed.” – Attendee.

The structure of the day worked well to give people time to network and chat, but also maintained enough pace to keep everyone engaged. A particular stroke of genius from my colleague Maria was printing the sessions people had signed up for on the back of their lanyards, this was helpful as many attendees had registered months in advance and couldn’t remember what they had selected! We also set up the posters submitted by researchers in the same area as tea and coffee, this worked well as people did not have to go out of their way to engage with the posters and got attendees talking in the breaks.

“The conference had momentum, felt like I wasn't doing the same thing for too long” – Attendee.

“The conference was very interesting including research that was inclusive, representing many people from diverse groups. The speakers were clear and concise from various areas of expertise and the posters were excellently displayed.” – Attendee.

The library team had a strong presence in the parallel sessions, Federica Bianchini (Library Manager) delivered a workshop with Medical Director David Sims on ‘Using Learning Health Systems to bridge the gap to Health Equity’, Jenny Emmel (Knowledge Manager) and Carl Challinor (Knowledge Librarian) led a session on ‘Health Literacy - Why it Matters in Research’, and Melanie Dawson-Jones (Knowledge Manager) spoke on ‘Questioning the Nature of Evidence - the Ethics of Evidence-Based Practice’. It was a great opportunity to raise the profile of the library, and it was nice to see a good mix of people from clinical and non-clinical backgrounds attending the sessions. We were also grateful for the support of library colleagues from across Bradford and further afield who attended the event. It was lovely to see familiar faces and we’ve had some great feedback about how useful the sessions were!

“I liked learning about the different perspectives to social work research, and about the various roles/ways you can get involved in research. I liked finding out about the librarians and how they can support with key searches.” – Attendee. 

Our second keynote speaker was Dr Sohail Abbas, Director of Population Health and Inequalities in Bradford District and Craven Health and Care Partnership. Sohail spoke on ‘Price, Power, Community and Inequalities’ and gave great insight into the financial cost to the NHS of health inequality. A particularly interesting aspect of the talk was a thought experiment: if inequality was a communicable disease and the rich could become infected by it, how would we respond differently? Sohail emphasised the importance of collaboration between organisations working towards equity, and the need for it to be considered in everything we do, incorporated into every policy rather than standing alone.

“Was interesting to hear about the work being done to engage different communities and consider health inequalities in different populations. Was also very inspiring to see the innovation that is going on in Bradford.” – Attendee.

Finally, we chose to end the day with the ‘Big Debate’: ‘In a time of budgetary constraint, is health equity and achievable priority for the NHS?’. Arguing for we had Clinical Director of Pharmacy Jas Sohal and Consultant in Public Health Richard James, and against we had Chief Allied Health Professional Cathy Schofield and Head of Nursing Thabani Songo. The lively debate format was a really engaging way to close the conference and bring everyone together. It reenergised the room, but also on a practical level ensured the big keynotes weren’t missed by anyone who had to leave early for public transport/childcare commitments etc. The debate led to a lot of reflection on the relationship between health and social care services and the way in which we work with partner organisations, as well as the founding principles of the NHS and our values today.

“It was varied, thought provoking and engaging speakers. I enjoyed the debate.” - Attendee

Overall, we have plenty to be proud of! For now, I think our team is definitely “all conferenced out” and will be taking a well-earned break from thinking about the next one, but if the experience of planning this event has taught us anything it’s that CLEAR 2026 will come around quicker than we think!

If any of the sessions have piqued your interest, have a look at the presentations here: https://www.bdct.nhs.uk/event/clear-2024/

I would love to hear from anyone who has hosted a similar event and has tips and tricks to share, or anyone who attended CLEAR 2024 and has any additional feedback for us.

Contact: rebecca.norman@bdct.nhs.uk

Rebecca Norman
Trainee Assistant Librarian
Bradford District Care Foundation Trust