ECC Congress announces line-up

The UK’s only dedicated emergency and critical care Congress for the veterinary profession has revealed the line-up for its annual event later this year, the first time it will be held at a brand new venue, the Royal Armouries in Leeds. Congress organisers, Vets Now, has announced consultant anaesthetist in human medicine professor Kevin Fong as the keynote speaker, who will deliver a welcome plenary session – a first at Congress – about risk management: life, death and mistakes, to more than 750 delegates. Fong, who wrote the acclaimed book Extreme Medicine, speaks to medical professionals all over the world and while he’s a medically-trained doctor, author, and TV presenter, he also studied astrophysics and space medicine, therefore his specialism lies in working in extreme environments. Joining the line-up is leading emergency vet Ken Drobatz, professor of critical care at the University of Pennsylvania. Vet nurse Louise O’Dwyer will also speak at the event. O’Dwyer this year became the first vet nurse from the UK to be elected president of the Academy of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care. The programme for the 2019 Congress is being coordinated by American, European and RCVS-recognised specialist in emergency and critical care, Dan Lewis, who is based at Vets Now’s 24/7 emergency and specialty hospital in Glasgow. He and his team have developed brand new streams for the innovative programme this year. Lewis said: “Congress aims to progress our professions, and with the largest emergency caseload in Europe at Vets Now, we’re well placed to help share best practice when dealing with emergency cases. We’re bringing together some of the world’s leading ECC experts to share our knowledge with vets and vet nurses, bringing them the most up-to-date, inspiring content.” There will be new content this year, as the congress introduces a wellness, business and culture stream, advanced practitioner stream plus a lecture stream with content specifically tailored to recent graduates in ECC. It will also host ‘debate lectures’, where two ECC experts present opposing sides of controversial subjects. Vets Now’s Amanda Boag, who is the current RCVS president, will introduce an “honest, frank” conversational stream around ‘The first time I…’. These will be delivered by the ECC specialist/referral teams who will take delegates back to the first time they dealt with some of the most challenging cases. Headline speaker Ken Drobatz will cover a year in review of the professions and he’ll also speak about altered mentation and dealing with respiratory distress. The ECC UK Congress 2019 will be held on 7 and 8 November and online booking is now available.