Back to Health
Primary Health Workforce Annual CPD Conference
Reigniting a passion for preventive health – shifting from reactive to proactive care
Back to Health 2022 was held Friday 21 – Sunday 23 October 2022 at Pacific Bay Resort Coffs Harbour. The theme was preventive health, shifting focus from reactive to proactive care.
Thank you to all who attended Healthy North Coast’s inaugural annual conference. It was great to experience the energy and commitment of more than 100 North Coast health practitioners, all working to improve health outcomes for our community. Thank you to everyone who gave up their time to learn something new, and thank you to those who shared their knowledge, be it as a facilitator, keynote, a speaker or attendee who participated in the discussions.
Take a look at the conference highlights below.
- Accredited cultural safety training (Friday)
- On-Country cultural experience (Friday)
- Keynotes
- Panel discussions
- Breakout rooms
- Workshops
- Networking
- Dinner and entertainment (Saturday)
- Wellness activities
The last few years have been somewhat ‘reactive’ when it comes to healthcare – bushfires, floods and COVID-19. This year’s conference will be a chance to move your attention to protecting, preserving and promoting health and wellness.
Chronic diseases are a tremendous burden to both patients and the health care system and almost half of all Australians have health conditions that could be prevented. Chronic diseases can profoundly reduce quality of life for patients and for their families, affecting enjoyment of life, family relationships, and finances.
Preventive health means catching potential problems before they become too serious. Clinical preventive strategies are available for many chronic diseases and include:
- intervening before disease occurs (primary prevention)
- detecting and treating disease at an early stage (secondary prevention)
- managing disease to slow or stop its progression (tertiary prevention).
Health is more than the absence of disease. Health is really about wellness and a capacity to thrive.
- Resources now available
- View the full program here.
Dr Caroline West, conference facilitator
General practitioner, prevention and wellness media doctor and host of the ABC TV series “Ask the Doctor” and “Catalyst”.
Dr Caroline West has worked in general practice since 1988, working in both city and rural and remote regions of Australia. As a GP, Caroline has extensive experience in mental health, women’s health, men’s health, sexual health, antenatal shared care, paediatrics and Lifestyle Medicine.
Since COVID-19, Caroline has been working clinically with the Royal Flying Doctor Service and with Maari Ma Aboriginal Health, rolling out COVID-19 respiratory work. This gave her a tremendous perspective on remote health and the chance to experience the challenging and rewarding realm of remote solo GP work.
In 2021, Caroline took up a part time role as the Medical Advisor with the National Prescribing Service NPS MedicineWise and following this conference, she will be moving to Bangalore India for 3 years of health work.
On the medical education front, Caroline has been actively involved in delivering and designing RACGP accredited CPD courses in Lifestyle Medicine and on Medical Practitioner Wellbeing. She is a familiar face in the media and has been the host of many TV programs from Beyond 2000 to Good Medicine and currently she is the host of ABC TVs Ask the Doctor and Catalyst. Caroline writes extensively on health-related topics for a variety of media and is the host the podcast series for NPS MedicineWise, available on Spotify.
Full Day Packages
Friday
21 October | 8:30am-2:30am-
Subsidised cultural safety training
-
On-Country cultural experience
-
Two online components
-
Lunch, and morning and afternoon tea
Saturday & Sunday
22 & 23 October-
Best value package
-
Lunch, and morning and afternoon tea
-
Saturday evening dinner and entertainment
Individual Sessions
Saturday sessions
22 October | 9am – 4.30pm-
Includes lunch, and morning and afternoon tea
Saturday dinner & entertainment
22 October | 6.30pm – 10pm-
Canapes and 2-course meal
-
Keynote
-
Music by Matty Devitt Band
Sunday sessions
23 October | 9am – 3.30pm-
Includes lunch, and morning and afternoon tea
The Back to Health conference is a partnership between Healthy North Coast, Centre for Healthcare Knowledge and Innovation and Health Pathways.
