Welcome to the ALAMA Belfast Conference 2010
The ALAMA Spring Conference; Fit to Work is crossing the Irish Sea
and heading to Belfast... for St Patrick’s Day.

Occupational Medicine will be very different in the future. This conference programme has been specifically designed to give insights into the opportunities and challenges ahead.

The focus is now on fitness for work services and the benefits of investing in these services and in employee well-being are clear. The delivery of fitness for work services will be via a multidisciplinary approach with well-being and employee engagement an important organisational risk to be managed, especially in this period of recession.

With psychological and musculoskeletal conditions the principal cause of sickness absence this conference will aim to give an overview of evidence based cost effective interventions, which should form part of any fit for work service. It will focus on the concepts of measuring fitness for role and how this contributes to a healthy workplace, as well as considering how best to introduce and maintain a safety culture. Communicating well-being messages within a work place and how managers view this will help inform OH professionals of this emerging management concept.

The conference will be held at the Hilton Hotel in Belfast city centre. With a slight change to the format, delegates are invited to arrive for the evening of Wednesday 17th March and enjoy some good Irish craic before attending the conference which will run for two full days, finishing late afternoon on Friday 19th March.

In addition to a full programme and enjoying the delights of Belfast on St Patrick’s night there is even more on offer. The conference dinner on Thursday 18th March will be held in Stormont, home to the Northern Ireland Assembly. This historic building was constructed in the 1920’s to accommodate the newly formed Government of Northern Ireland and opened in 1932. Our reception will be held in the fabulous Great Hall, which is made entirely from Italian travertine marble, with dinner in the impressive dining gallery. You can expect some Irish entertainment too and a chance to view the main Assembly chambers!

CPD Points will be awarded for attendance.

Diary Dates
24-26 November 2010
The ALAMA 2010 Autumn Conference will be held in Manchester. This will be the official celebration of ALAMA’s 30th year and the dates (a week later than usual) have been set to coincide with the University of Manchester’s renowned 'Lane Lecture'.

23-25 March 2011
We are heading south for ALAMA 2011 Spring Conference and at the moment dates are being held in Southampton venues.

Put the dates in your diary now.

Future Clinical Presentations at Conference
ALAMA is keen to ensure future conferences include opportunities for OH physicians to access the latest thinking/research on clinical issues. We would like to include short presentations and posters, which offer an opportunity to present information, ideas or new research about selected initiatives.

If you would like to propose a presentation or a poster at a future conference please send a short summary to alama@emmm.co.uk (Clearly marked Presentation Proposal) and it will be put forward and considered for inclusion in upcoming conference programmes.