The 2024 Integrative & Personalised Medicine (IPM) Congress took place from 6-8 June and welcomed more than 2,000 healthcare professionals from over 45 countries to the prestigious QEII Centre in the heart of London.
Organised in association with The College of Medicine UK, the congress is the largest event celebrating integrative & personalised medicine in the UK. Focusing on whole-person patient centred health, the congress unites the community and brings together healthcare professionals from across the globe.
Representing conventional, integrative, functional, lifestyle, environmental, complementary and holistic medicine, the community came together to discuss the benefits of taking a whole-person, patient-centred approach to health. Highly acclaimed healthcare professionals from across the globe presented evidence-based research and case studies over three days.
The British Acupuncture Council attended for the second year in a row, to fly the flag for traditional acupuncture. The conference aims to highlight the benefits of taking an integrative approach to health, incorporating clinical experience with evidence-based research. Accordingly, the BAcC felt that acupuncture should be a key part of this conversation.
On the Friday of the conference, BAcC Chair, Pia Huber MBAcC and Joe Jennings MBAcC jointly hosted a workshop to highlight the work of community clinics and current multibed clinics integrated into local primary care networks (PCNs). They explained how affordable acupuncture can be delivered while maintaining a high-quality of care. This was supported by real-life examples from existing clinics and the positive audit data they had generated.
The BAcC had a stand in the exhibitor hall educating the public and professionals on the high standards of training and practice carried by BAcC Members. A number of BAcC staff attended across the three days: Research and Policy Manager, Ian Appleyard; Safe Practice Manager, Hannah Bowie-Carlin; Membership Support Officer, Adam Lambe, and Chief Executive, Alex Jacobs. Joining the staff, were five BAcC Members who graciously gave their time to share their stories with delegates visiting our stand. Thank you to Josh Barrow, Stacey Chapman, Sandra Hart-Hunt, Joe Jennings and Dr Sunila Prasad.
The BAcC stand attracted a lot of attention, particularly from those who had an interest in studying acupuncture. This was natural because the conference itself tends to attract those who are already professionals in complementary or conventional medicine. The staff and volunteers present made a great team to communicate the benefits of BAAB accredited courses and guide those seeking acupuncture for themselves to visit our BAcC practitioner register.
It was fantastic to have Sunila present, since her background as a fully qualified biomedical doctor and graduate of City College of Acupuncture enabled her to strongly make the case for doctors to study BAAB accredited courses. On the Saturday, the volunteers (Josh, Stacey and Sandra) all happened to be regional group coordinators, which turned out to be a great opportunity for them to have a discussion with Alex about how the groups are working.
Attendance at the event was great and the staff team were able to make good connections with important stakeholders across the field of complementary medicine, and even spent time with current supporters of the BAcC including Simon Mills from the College of Medicine and Mike Cummings from the British Medical Acupuncture Society.
British Acupuncture Council
June 2024
