Healthcare Conferences UK, Social Care Conferences UK & Education Conferences UK are part of the HCUK Group
Our experience
We run over 300 CPD certified events a year attracting between 25 and 600 delegates. We are the largest independent organiser of healthcare and social care conferences in the UK and as such have expert knowledge of the market. In 2022 we launched Education Conferences UK.
Our conferences range from small masterclasses and in house events through to two day conferences with multiple streams and workshops per day, social events in the evening, and large independent exhibitions.
The group of companies has three Directors all of which are owners and work within the organisation: Clare Gallagher, Managing Director, Kerry Tarrant, Marketing Director and Peter Gallagher, Finance Director. The current company turnover is just under £2M. The company was founded in July 2011. In May 2022 Joanna Milne joined as Head of New Markets to develop Education Conferences UK.
In 2022 we were finalists of the Conference & Events Awards and AEO Excellence Awards. We were pleased to be winners of the Business of the Year award at the 2021 SME National Business Awards, along with our MD Clare Gallagher winning Business Woman of the Year. We were also finalists for the 2020 ABPCO Excellence Award for Best In House Conference, and in December 2019 we were delighted to win the 2019 ABPCO Excellence award for Best Agency Conference Organise. Read more about our awards here
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We make a difference
For each of our events, onsite or virtual, we ask all our delegates to complete an event evaluation form. The aim of this question is to understand the impact of conference attendance on practice/service/patient care, and the value of networking post conference.
In 2022, 96% of delegates would recommend us to a colleague:
- "Simply excellent with very experienced speakers packed with not only content of quality, evidence based information but putting emphasis on showing professionalism to be shown by all doctors in every sphere of life .Being transparent, engaging & above all working in partnership with patients & parents is very important. This was one of the best webinars I have attended since a very long time & without flattering, the organising members bringing quality speakers were excellent too."
- "Content is very informative and provided insights on national frameworks, audits and benchmarking opportunities with other organisations"
- "I enjoyed all the speakers it was very well organised and all speakers had great information to share and great presentations to compliment the work undertaken."
- "I feel more confident in my role now, I've learn loads today that I will definitely put into practice"
- "Really really great got much more out of it than I would have thought prior to joining."
- "Very well researched as well as presented with some excellent learning points for practice."
- "It was really inspiring and raised some interesting thoughts to help improve practice going forward for both patient safety and staff satisfaction."
- "Covered many areas in relation to patient care and being mindful of when to have advanced care discussions."
- "Excellent presentations. The whole programme was very well put together. Starting the morning and afternoon sessions with a focus on young peoples & families experiences was a really good way of keeping the focus on them throughout."
Putting the patient/service user at the centre
We believe in involving patients and service users in everything we do. Patients are regular speakers at our events, and facilitators of our masterclasses. We offer free places for patient and service users at all of our conferences. We have involved patients in the development of programmes and we have worked with organisations such as the National Service User Network (NSUN) and Patient Leaders such as Jonathan Hope and Paul Scates to develop jointly produced conferences and programmes.
Our knowledge
We have 20+ years experience working in health and social care — which means we really know the NHS: all its constituent bodies, trusts, specialities, and disciplines including organisations related to it. As importantly, we are very aware of the issues that concern all their staff.
This familiarity comes from having researched, planned, marketed and organised events for every level of clinician, practitioner and manager in trusts and local authorities from board director to healthcare assistants, and in specialities that include pharmacy, ambulatory care, anaesthesia, cardiology, elderly care, mental health, orthopaedics, paediatrics, palliative care, surgery, and many more.
Clare Gallagher is the primary conference producer at HCUK. Clare has over 25 years of experience in writing conference programmes and is the Founder of HCUK Ltd. Clare is a 2022 member of the British Association of Professional Conference Organisers (ABPCO). Clare was awarded the 2021 SME National Business Woman of the Year Award in December 2021 and was then honoured to have been selected as a Judge in the 2022 SME National Business Awards.
Clare’s current and past voluntary roles, in addition to HCUK include: Advisory Group Member, National Postgraduate Education Training Board; Editorial Board Member, The Journal of Integrated Care Pathways; Board Member, The European Pathway Association; Vice Chairman, PPI Board, Ashford and St Peters NHS Foundation Trust; Editorial Board Member, The Journal of Clinical Risk and External Consultant to Patient Concern. Clare has a first class degree in Health and Social Care Management, following her original degree in Economics. Clare is passionate about improving quality and sharing good practice in the NHS.
In 2022 Joanna Milne joined the company to lead on Education Conferences UK. With over 10 years’ experience working in the education sector, Joanna leads the research and development of conferences, online learning and masterclasses for headteachers, senior leaders, teachers and administration staff. A wide range of topics include staff and pupil mental health, SEND, safeguarding, pastoral care, Ofsted inspection and school attendance, tackling issues that matter the most to staff in schools to help them to drive improvement.
If you would like to find out more about HCUK please email clare@hc-uk.org.uk
