PCCS President
RCN, RN. BSc, MSc, PGCHE, FHEA
Sister, PCCU Nottingham
Associate Professor, University of Nottingham
Carli Whittaker
Welcome
The world of Paediatric Critical Care has been undergoing significant changes and challenges over the last couple of years and the PCC workforce has been integral part of these transformational events. There are evolving expectations in the way PCC is delivered and there are many challenges that besiege the PCC professionals as a consequence of the complexities of the evolution in healthcare. Every year PCCS Conference brings together paediatric critical care practitioners to share knowledge gained, research performed, and practice evaluated over the previous 12 months.
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With the PCCS Annual Scientific meeting returning face-to face last year, after years of the pandemic, it reminded us all of the opportunities for shared learning, collaboration and most importantly the ability to network in person with the ambition of moving paediatric critical care forward. This year in Edinburgh, the Scottish PICU’s and ScotSTAR team plan to deliver a stimulating and thought provoking conference with the theme of the scientific programme being ‘Communicate to Connect’. Concurrently, there is ample exciting opportunities to see friends old and new with the planned social events. It promises to be the place to be. I can’t wait to see you all there.
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It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to Edinburgh for the 37th annual meeting of the Paediatric Critical Care Society. We are hosting this meeting, together with our colleagues in Glasgow, reflecting the fact that the clinical service is delivered nationally to the children of Scotland by the teams in both cities. We have assembled a program to include a wide range of clinical and non-clinical topics, and it will be delivered by speakers from diverse backgrounds and experience to suit the multi-disciplinary audience we hope to attract.
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The paediatric intensive care team is a special family, sharing experiences which will shape our lives and careers. Individually, there are some children and families we will never forget. We have learned over the years that in addition to providing a safe and high-quality service to critically ill children, we need to trust, respect and be kind to each other, and collectively create a culture which is inclusive, supportive and nurturing. Finally, we need to inspire the next generation to join this amazing team, and I hope you will use the next few days to refresh and reflect on our shared goals.
MB ChB, MA, FRCA
Director of PCCU and Neonatology
Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, Edinburgh
Jillian McFadzean
Neil Spenceley
MB ChB, MRCPCH
Director of PICU and Anaesthesia
Royal Children's Hospital, Glasgow
On behalf of the Scottish PICU community we'd love to welcome you to our special part of the world in October for PCCS 2023.
Hosted in Edinburgh our conference theme is "Communicate to Connect" and was inspired by the notion of the societal element of PICU. Our system is very complex, difficult to understand and sometimes impossible to control yet highly successful. There are many facets to our system: hardware; software; the organisation, environment and of course the coffee machine.
However, Davis Woods was right: 'Resources are finite, but change and surprise never stops’, and it turns out the only thing we can control is the way that we adapt to the ever changing conditions of work. This in turn requires part of the system to be malleable, flexible, compassionate, kind, make great coffee, communicate and create that daily success: Us!
Our logo reflexes this aspect of PICU with the two quotation marks coming together signifying: Communication, Connection and Reflection. All things which PICU strives towards and frequently achieves.
I know that Mike Myers once said that ‘All Scottish food is based on a dare’ but we welcome you to enjoy our fine hospitality in fine surroundings and we’ll see you in October.