HEE’s national conference Makes Every Contact Count

Making Every Contact Count (MECC) is an approach to healthcare that encourages all those who have contact with the public to use these opportunities to talk about their health and wellbeing.

As part of its work to promote MECC, HEE held a national conference in partnership with Public Health England aimed at supporting those who commission, develop or deliver training in this area. The conference enabled delegates to explore and best implement MECC as part of their role within the wider health and social care systems. Workshops throughout the day included opportunities to:

• discuss and showcase best practice around the delivery of Making Every Contact Count and behaviour change education and training
• launch a number of tools, developed by HEE and Public Health England to support the local implementation of MECC activity and the development of training resources
• explore opportunities for a professional community of practice network.

Speeches were heard from Sir Stephen Moss, Non-Executive Director, Health Education England and Non-Executive Director, Derby Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and Shirley Cramer - Chief Executive, Royal Society for Public Health, amongst many others.

Commenting on the conference, Sir Stephen Moss said:

I was delighted to see that the conference bought so many people from across health, social and local authority sectors together, sharing their experiences and enthusiasm for implementing MECC more widely.

Public health prevention and promotion is a priority for the NHS. Making Every Contact Count is a very simple approach that could have huge implications to improve the health and wellbeing of our population. Health Education England has a key role in ensuring that healthcare staff have the skills they need to put MECC into action, and this conference, bringing so many people together, has helped us to further this.