The 65th annual PAH Health Symposium lit up with innovations for Bright Futures: Lighting the way for the next decade of care.
More than 1,500 clinicians and researchers attended this year's new format with in-room sessions, online attendance and afternoon workshops harnessing the collective influence on the future state of patient care.
The keynote presentation by Chief Growth Officer at Creative HQ and Founder of its School of Innovation, Dr Colin Kennedy, challenged thinking and approaches to innovation. The presentation was based on insights into Metro South Health’s practical capability which showed positive outcomes with remote collaboration, consumer and primary care engagement, organisation-wide sprint activity and a strong permission to test and learn. It was an engaging overview of connectedness and embedding innovation into daily practice.
The Great Debate continued the tradition of being the most popular session of the program debating The future of healthcare may not be human.
Human, humanoid, and robot representations from the affirmative team of Dr David Highton, Calum Neish and Matthew Josey, and the negative team of Samantha Boustead, Dr Matthew Lumchee, and Dr Riley Brown proved that AI will be a clear part of the future of health care.
The winner as voted by the attendees, using technology but without the undue influence of AI, was the negative team who argued successfully that humans are a necessary part of decision-making in healthcare.
The Lectures in Honour celebrated retiring audiologist Megan Haynes and well-renowned princess of the Switchboard Robyn Craddock with touching tributes by their former peers.
Through a walk down memory lane it was clear they each gave very different but very significant contributions over a long tenure to their teams. Standing ovations paid tribute to both in a stirring display that showcased their influence throughout PAH.
Sessions highlighting where research is going, models of care and teamwork, trauma-informed care in practice, and goals of care, drew on the brains trust of multidisciplinary clinical and research teams.
The program culminated in the annual Kurt Aaron Oration presented by fierce advocate of workforce wellness and proud disruptor of organisational systems-thinking, Dr Liz Crowe. No stranger to inspiring clinical audiences across Queensland, Dr Crowe delighted all with her insider perspectives of managing crisis, trauma, grief and bereavement with a focus on culture and work design.
Her message: wellbeing is not a continuum. It is a complex multifactorial and dynamic experience. The highs are high, the lows are low, but the experience overall is a reality that we wouldn’t be anywhere else. The challenge now is to embrace the move from wellbeing 1.0 into a wellbeing 3.0 systems-approach that goes beyond supporting staff and into a sense of belonging.
Congratulations to all our 2026 research oral and poster presenters, our education award winners, and a round of applause to the many contributors to this year's program.