HISCON 2025

Programme timings and presentation titles are subject to change

Day 1 - Tuesday 17 June
09:00 - 09:45 Registration and refreshments  
09:50 - 10:00 Welcome and introduction Jincy Jerry, Director of Infection Prevention and Control, NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Scotland

Putting patients front and centre – in the built environment
Chaired by Michael Weinbren, New Hospitals Programme

10:00 - 10:45 Keynote Presentation - Using Systems Thinking to deliver safety in complex organisations Dame Judith Hackitt, Chair, Office for Nuclear Regulation
10:45 - 11:00 Risk based approached to managing occupant safety George McCracken, Head of Estates Risk and Environment, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust
11:00 - 11:20 View of the Chief Medical Officer - Frimley's perspective

Tim Ho, Chief Medical Officer, Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust

Manjula Meda, Consultant Microbiologist, Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust

11:20 - 11:50 Break and exhibition  
Putting patients front and centre – in the built environment continued
Chaired by Manjula Meda, Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust

11:50 - 12:10 Interactive session - Competence Michael Weinbren, Consultant Medical Microbiologist & Specialist Advisor Microbiology, New Hospitals Programme
12:10 - 12:30 View of Estates and engineers Nigel Keery, IHEEM President & Head of Estates Operations, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust
12:30 - 12:50 NHS Occupant safety - The opportunity to change Alpa Patel, Transformation Directorate Integration Lead, New Hospital Programme

12:50 - 13:10 Top ten things to do if you are about to have a new build/refurbishment Panel discussion
13:10 - 14:20 Lunch break and exhibition  

Practical aspects of implementing the NETB 2024/3
Chaired by Surabhi Taori, NHS Lothian

14:20 - 15:00 Keynote Presentation – Introduction to NETB – more than NTMs, more than water (in association with RSPH) Susanne Surman Lee, Director, Leegionella Ltd
15:00 - 15:20 Practical tips for delivering real time change

Trupti Patel, Consultant in Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology, Clinical Lead for Microbiology and Infection Control Doctor, UCLH

Jessica Martin, Consultant Microbiologist, Leeds Teaching Hospitals, NHS Trust

15:20 - 15:40 CEO of CIPHE perspective Kevin Wellman, Chief Executive, Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering
15:40 - 16:00 Joint Q&A panel  
16:00 - 16:20 Break and exhibition  
16:20 - 17:00 Panel discussion

 

17:00 - 19:00 Drinks reception  

 

Day 2 - Wednesday 18 June
09:00 - 09:25 Registration and refreshments  
09:25 - 09:30 Welcome and introduction Jincy Jerry, Director of Infection Prevention and Control, NHS Ayrshire and Arran, UK

Novel aspects of the built environment
Chaired by Jincy Jerry, NHS Ayrshire and Arran

09:30 - 09:50

Water safety issues and why patient rooms are such a high risk in hospitals

Jimmy Walker, Independent water microbiology consultant, UK
09:50 - 10:10

A clinician’s view on the role of the built environment on patient outcomes

Sara Mumford, Chief Medical Officer, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, UK
10:10 - 10:30

Talk title to be announced

Vicky Gentry, Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust
10:30 - 10:50

Panel Q&A

 
10:50 - 11:20 Break and exhibition  

Artificial Intelligence
Chaired by Sid Mookerjee, Brighton and Sussex Medical School

11:20 - 11:40

Machine learning for the prediction of infection on admission to hospital

Timothy Rawson, Honorary Clinical Lecturer, Imperial College London, UK
11:40 - 12:00

Remote surgical wound monitoring and the role of artificial intelligence

Melissa Rochon, Trust Lead for SSI Surveillance, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, UK
12:00 - 12:20

Advancing Infection Prevention and Control through AI: A Scoping Review of Applications, Barriers, and a Decision-Support Checklist’ 

Silvana Gastaldi, IPC Specialist, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Italy
12:20 - 12:40

Panel Q&A

 
12:40 - 13:50 Lunch break and exhibition  

Whole Genome Sequencing
Chaired by Giovanni Satta, University College London Hospitals

13:50 - 14:10

Practical use of WGS for IPC: visualising potential transmission events

David Eyre, Professor of Infectious Diseases, University of Oxford, UK
14:10 - 14:30

Real-time Genomic Surveillance for Healthcare Outbreaks: Current Evidence & Future Directions

Alex Sundermann, Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh, USA
14:30 - 14:50

Genomic analysis reveals persistence of three distinct ST80 VREfm clones over 39 months in a large Irish hospital

Peter Kinnevey, Lecturer, Dublin Dental University Hospital, Ireland
14:50 - 15:10

Panel Q&A

15:10 - 15:35 Break and exhibition  
15:35 - 16:05 Abstract oral presentations  

Metagenomics
Chaired by Helen Dunn, Great Ormond Street Hospital

16:05 - 16:25

Metagenomic next-generation sequencing in clinical virology: bioinformatic analysis and reporting

Nathanial Storey, Senior Bioinformatician, Great Ormond Street Hospital, UK
16:25 - 16:55

The use of metagenomics for the detections of emerging pathogens 

Meera Chand, Deputy Director, Travel Health, Zoonoses, Emerging Infections, Respiratory & Tuberculosis, UKHSA, UK

16:55 - 17:10

Panel Q&A

17:10 Closing remarks Jincy Jerry, Director of Infection Prevention and Control, NHS Ayrshire and Arran, UK
17:15 End of conference