RCN Acute Care Symposium 2025
Advances in acute care: exploring the latest innovations and developments
20 Jun 2025, 09:00 - 16:15
Choose event information:
Bookings are now closed.
This one-day conference provides an unmissable opportunity to get the latest updates and developments on key issues in acute care nursing to enhance your professional practice, improve patient outcomes, and help you stay ahead in your career.Immerse yourself in discussions led by leading experts as we explore current issues and developments in acute and emergency care.
Network with other nursing professionals, engage with exhibitors and pose questions to our expert speakers.
This symposium is delivered in partnership with the following RCN Forums:
• Critical Care and Flight Nursing Forum
• Emergency Care Forum
• Perioperative Care Forum
• Defence Nursing Forum
Programme highlights include:
• Opening plenary from Lynn Woolsey, RCN Chief Nursing Officer
• Delirium: the patient perspective
• The perioperative care pathway
• Diabetes emergency skills and surgery
• Advances in pain management
• An insight into working with spinal injury patients in low-income countries
• Panel discussion: advancing your career in nursing
Learning outcomes:
• Understand the patient perspective and impact on acute care
• Consider and explore current challenges in emergency and perioperative care
• Gain up to date knowledge and explore new guidance and innovations in emergency care
• Discuss and debate development of the nursing workforce and the journey to advanced practice
• Gain insight into and be inspired by acute care career pathways
Who should attend?
This conference is aimed at any member of the nursing team including nursing associates, health care support workers and students involved in acute care setting, both in the NHS and independent sector.
What previous attendees have said about the Acute Care Symposium:
“Excellent event with great speakers who gave amazing knowledge and understanding about the topics discussed in the event.”
“Approachability of all present was refreshing, with an inspiring intro from the director of nursing.”
Secure your spot now!
RCN Events
rcnevents@rcn.org.uk
02076473577
ÃÛÌÒÖ±²¥
20 Cavendish Square
Marylebone
London
W1G 0RN
20 Cavendish Square is located behind John Lewis, Oxford Street.
Tube
The nearest stations are Oxford Circus and Bond Street.
Bus
There are many buses routes that stop nearby, including the 10, 25, 55, 73, 98 and 390.
Registration
On arrival, please make your way to the RCN registration desk which will be clearly signposted. You will be issued with conference materials, including a certificate of attendance and a name badge.
Programme
A copy of the programme is available to view online and will also be provided on the day.
Lunch
Lunch will be served at the time specified in the programme. If you have any specific dietary requirements, please inform us in advance so we can ensure your needs are catered for.
Specific requirements
If you have any specific requirements (e.g. hearing loop etc.), please inform us in advance so we can ensure the appropriate arrangements are in place.
Social Media
You can post about the conference and share your experience on social media using the handle #RCNacutecare and @theRCN.
Presentations and recordings
Presentations and recordings we have permission to share will be made available to delegates approximately 1-2 weeks post-event.
Receipts and registration enquiries
If you require a receipt or have any queries relating to your registration or payment for this event please contact the RCN Events Registration team direct on 029 2054 6460 between 9am – 4.30pm, Monday to Friday, or email eventsreg@rcn.org.uk
Alternatively, please contact staff on the registration desk at the event.
Cancellations and substitutions
Cancellations received one week before the start of the event will be refunded, minus a £25 administration fee. Regrettably, no refunds can be processed after this date.
Places can be substituted at any time. Please contact the RCN Event Registrations team on 029 2054 6460 with details of name changes.
After the event
Please take a few minutes to complete the evaluation at the end of the event. All answers will be treated in the strictest confidence and will help us to shape future events, both online and face to face.
Chair: Jason Cross, RCN Perioperative Forum, POPS ANP & Nurse Lead, Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust
Jason was a committee member for the RCN Perioperative nursing steering group for a number of years before election to forum chair in December 2021. He stepped down from this role at the end of 2024.
Jason is the nurse lead for POPS (Perioperative medicine for the Older Person undergoing Surgery) at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust.
In addition to this he has input into medical student, junior doctor and ward nurse education programmes. He has spoken nationally and internationally on the use of comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) in the surgical setting, developing the workforce and on his role as an independent practitioner. Previous work has included working with the RCN, HEE and the British Geriatric Society in developing a curricular and competency framework for nurses wishing to direct their career towards perioperative care. He was a member of the expert panel for the NICE perioperative care guideline.
Specialist interests include:
• management of the surgical patient with complex medical co-morbidities
• pre-operative comprehensive geriatric assessment of the surgical patient
• staff education focusing on older patients needs in hospital.
• workforce development.
Speakers:
Lynn Woolsey, Chief Nursing Officer
Lynn joined the RCN as the UK Deputy Chief Nurse in September 2023. She provides strategic leadership, management and coordination for Nursing with a focus on workforce, practice and regulation across all fields of Nursing and across all four countries of the UK. Lynn was previously Deputy Chief Nursing Officer within the Department of Health Northern Ireland, Assistant Director of Nursing and Midwifery for Workforce and Education with responsibility for the workforce across acute and primary care, as well as all fields of practice including adult, childrens, mental health and learning disability services, and Transformational Lead and Assistant Director for an acute mental health and learning disabilities hospital.
Lynn's clinical, managerial and leadership roles across the NHS, private and education sectors have focused on the nursing workforce, including nursing support workers, pre and post registration education, regulation, clinical practice and leadership.
In addition to professional qualifications, Lynn has achieved a post-graduate qualification in Education, Strategic Workforce Planning and Coaching as well as an MSSc.
Kerry Lyons, Consultant Admiral Nurse for Frailty and Physical Health, Dementia UK
Kerry is a Consultant Admiral Nurse specializing in frailty and physical health at Dementia UK. After qualifying as an RGN at Manchester University in 1996, she completed further postgraduate studies. Kerry has published several times and received national awards for nursing innovation from the British Medical Journal, Nursing Times, RCNi, and HSJ. In 2019, she became Lead Acute Admiral Nurse, earning the RCNi Commitment to Carers Award and UK Dementia Practitioner of the Year Award. In January 2023, she took her first national Consultant Nurse post at Dementia UK. Kerry's personal journey includes supporting her grandfather and her mother with dementia.
Melissa Grundy, Consultant Admiral Nurse for Frailty and Physical Health, Dementia UK
Melissa is the Consultant Admiral Nurse for Frailty and Physical Health at Dementia UK. She qualified as an RGN at De Montfort university in 2005, later completing further postgraduate studies. Melissa’s career spans roles from staff nurse in surgery and community hospitals to Lead Admiral Nurse working in acute care, she has a specialist interest in Delirium. Melissa’s experience with dementia and supporting families/carers pursues her dedication and passion to improving care for others. She joined Dementia UK in 2025 as a Consultant Admiral Nurse for Frailty and Physical Health.
Captain Luke Winterbourne, Nurse Practitioner, Royal Army Medical Services / Salford Royal Hospital
Luke registered as a nurse in 2014 after graduating from the University of Salford, where he is now studying for his MSc Advanced Clinical Practice. Having worked at Salford and Bolton hospitals, in theatres recovery, emergency nursing, resuscitation and education, he now works as a Trainee AP in Major Trauma.
Luke has also been a keen Army Reservist since 2014 with 206 Multi-Role Medical Regiment (formerly 207 Field Hospital) and has deployed overseas on Op MINUSMA in Mali as aa resus head of department and provided medical support for the Jungle Warfare Division in Brunei working as a Nurse Practitioner.
Tamsin has worked in the NHS for 15 years and has been a DSN for the last 10 years and works at the Royal Stoke University Hospital part of the University Hospital of North Midlands NHS Trust.
Tamsin’s current role involves being team leader for the diabetes and endocrinology nurse team, the role encompasses both inpatient and outpatient responsibilities and is very clinical in nature. She is a non-medical prescriber.
Tamsin is the clinical lead for diabetes inpatients NHSE (Midlands Network) and is also director for the DSN Forum UK Ltd.
Tamsin has completed her MSc in Diabetes Management with Kings College London.
Angeline Price, Chair, RCN Perioperative Forum, Advanced Practitioner, Salford Royal Hospital
Angeline qualified as a nurse in 2009 and has worked in a variety of clinical settings across acute and community care in both cardiology and geriatric medicine. She competed an MSc in Advanced Clinical Practice and developed a special interest in the perioperative care of older people, delivering an in-reach service into colorectal, upper GI and emergency general surgery. Angeline’s research focusses around the peri-operative care of older people, in particular those undergoing emergency laparotomy.
Angeline is the current Chair of the Perioperative forum committee and is passionate about increasing awareness of the perioperative care needs of older and complex patients across the whole pathway through education and shared learning.
Victoria Richmond, Senior Nurse for Unscheduled Surgery, Ninewells Hospital, Dundee
Vicky has worked in a variety of roles over her 20 years of nursing, from medical admissions, cruise ship nursing, surgical elective and now within unscheduled surgical care.
Her wealth of experience has enabled her to form a Surgical Frailty Team in Scotland. This team specialised in screening all patients over 65 into unscheduled care. Her success in this role has now allowed her to become Senior nurse within the front door area to unscheduled surgery. Whilst the role is diverse within its nature, she remains focused upon patient centred care through all aspects of the patients journey.
Karin Cannons, Nurse Consultant Pain Management, Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust
Karin trained at St Bartholomew’s hospital in London. She spent most of her early career immersed in caring for patients having general, neuro or cardiothoracic surgery or those who were critically ill. Karin moved into pain management in 1999 and is a Nurse Consultant at Frimley Health NHS Trust. She leads and works clinically in 3 services that see inpatients and outpatients referred to the chronic pain clinic. Her current research and audit focus is removing long-acting opioids from post operative pathways. She is a member of the steering committee of the RCN’s pain and palliative care forum.
FS Lucy Reading, Critical Care Air Support Team, Royal Air Force
Lucy graduated from the University of Manchester in 2008 and launched her nursing career at Manchester Royal Infirmary, where she dedicated four years to Critical Care. In 2012, she joined the Royal Air Force, further honing her skills in critical care across various Joint Hospital Groups throughout the UK. Over the course of her career, Lucy has undertaken two operational tours: OP HERRICK in Afghanistan and OP TRENTON, a UN Peacekeeping mission in South Sudan.
Currently, Lucy is based at the John Radcliffe Hospital, while also serving as a flight nurse with the RAF Critical Care Air Support Team. Her primary passion and expertise lie in aeromedical evacuation, encompassing both the logistics and the intricate processes involved in the evacuation of critically ill personnel from overseas. Additionally, Lucy has invested three years in the RAF Nurse Recruitment Team, playing a vital role in recruiting and training new nursing talent for the RAF. Her diverse experiences underscore her unwavering commitment to delivering excellent care within both civilian and military environments.
Fiona Stephenson, FRCN, RN. Health Care Capacity Building Advisor and Medico-Legal Expert Witness
Fiona Stephenson has over 40 years of nursing experience and found her passion in spinal cord injury (SCI) nursing care, through volunteer work after the earthquakes in Haiti in 2010 and in Nepal in 2015. Fiona became a Fellow of the RCN in 2016 and she has been an active member of the International Spinal Cord Society and on its Education, Disaster and Nurse Committees for many years. She is co-founder of The International Network of SCI Nurses. She volunteers regularly to advise on international healthcare capacity building in SCI care. Fiona also set up England’s first, and extremely successful, transitional care spinal injury centre linked to the NHS. She is a core member of the WHO SCI working group. She was awarded the UK Cavell Nurses Trust’s International Impact Award in 2017 and in 2018 the ‘Points of Light" award by the UK Prime Minister for exceptional services to spinal cord injury. At present Fiona works as a medico-legal Expert Witness and advises on SCI health care capacity building.
Suman Shrestha, RCN Professional Lead for Critical Care and Perioperative Care, Consultant Nurse, Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust
Suman Shrestha is a Consultant Nurse in Critical Care at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust in the United Kingdom. He is a qualified Advanced Critical Care Practitioner and Associate Member of the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine (FICM). He has a wide range of clinical, managerial, and academic experiences within healthcare. He is also a visiting lecturer at Brighton University (UK). He is also Professional Lead for Critical Care and Perioperative Care at the ÃÛÌÒÖ±²¥. He provides professional leadership, support and advice to the college and its members relating to critical care and perioperative care. He is also currently a Board member of the Centre for Perioperative Care, NEWS2 Independent Advisory Board, Intensive Care Society Standards and Guidelines committee and the Faculty of Intensive Care Safety Bulletin.
Professor Natalie Pattison, Professor of Clinical Nursing, University of Hertfordshire / East and North Herts NHS Trust
Natalie is a clinical academic who has worked clinically in cancer, critical care and critical care outreach. She is a Professor of Clinical Nursing with a joint appointment across the University of Hertfordshire and East and North Herts NHS Trust (ENHT). She is the clinical lead for critical care follow-up services in ENHT, combining this with a research role. Her research interests focus on her clinical area of critical care and critically ill ward patients, critical care recovery, end of life in critical care, and disability in critical care. She is widely published in critical care supportive care.
Natalie is Chair of the National Outreach Forum, past-Chair of UK Critical Care Research Group, and the UK Critical Care Nursing Alliance. She is also Deputy Lead for the National Institute for Health Research National Specialty Group for Critical Care.
Benefits of attending:
• Accrue up to 7.5 hours of CPD to count towards your revalidation
• Use the opportunity to put questions to expert speakers
• Network with peers from across the UK and build professional relationships
• Engage with exhibitors on new service developments and products.
• Consider and highlight best practice at national and local level.
Need a helping hand with securing time off or funding to attend? Please download these helpful hints and tips.
Event fees
|
Type |
Ex VAT |
Inc VAT |
|
Non-Member |
£200 + VAT |
£240 |
|
RCN Member |
£135 + VAT |
£162 |
|
RCN Member: pre-reg student/HCA/ retired member |
£75 |
£90 |
|
RCN representatives (25% discount) |
£101.25 |
£121.50 |
Join the RCN to be immediately eligible for the member rate.
Discounts available (max one per booking) - redeemable via telephone/booking form only.
25% discount - Accredited RCN representatives, forum steering committee members or any member that has been elected to undertake an official RCN role.
10% discount - Group discount when three or more delegates book together.
Conditions and exclusions
- Discounted offers cannot be combined. Only one discount can be used for each booking whether it is an individual or group booking.
- Discounts cannot be accumulated or redeemed when booking online. Please contact RCN Event Registration to book a discounted place
Join the RCN to be immediately eligible for the member rate.
To make a booking
Online bookings are the easiest and fastest way to book 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Bookings can be made by phone with payment by credit card/Maestro, by calling +44 (0)2920 546460. Lines are open from 9.30am - 4.30pm Monday to Friday.
Bookings can also be made via email with a downloaded booking form with credit card details or payment/remittance advice emailed to eventsreg@rcn.org.uk
All bookings will be confirmed in writing.
You will not be registered for this event unless payment accompanies your application. Places cannot be held provisionally.
The RCN reserves the right to refuse any booking at any time.
To pay by invoice
To pay by invoice you must send all of the below to eventsreg@rcn.org.uk
- A copy of the Purchase Order document from your organisation or company (we cannot process your order without it).
- Your Finance department/accounts payable contact email address to receive an electronic copy of the invoice from us.
- A completed RCN Events Booking Form for each delegate in the booking.
Once the invoice has been raised, you will then receive confirmation of your delegate booking on the event requested. Invoices are to be paid within 30 days of the invoice being issued.
There are a number of ways you can get involved, from networking to raise your profile to tailored commercial packages to help achieve specific objectives. Please contact the exhibitions team on 020 7647 3959 or email exhibitions@rcn.org.uk.
Eventsreg@rcn.org.uk
+44 (0)2920 546460
For any other queries relating to this conference please contact the RCN Events Team:
RCNevents@rcn.org.uk
+44 (0)207 6473577
Page last updated - 19/06/2025
