More than 400 researchers and clinicians in general practice attended the 45th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society for Academic Primary Care (SAPC) where they discussed key topics in primary care research including diagnosis and safety, multimorbidity, mental health, dementia and prescribing.

The meeting, which had attendees from Ireland, the UK, Sweden, Italy, Denmark, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the United States, was held from Wednesday, 6 July until Friday, 8 July at Dublin Castle and was hosted by the Department of General Practice of RCSI and the HRB Centre for Primary Care, based at RCSI.

The programme reflects the scope and variety of research conducted in primary care. Over the course of the three-day programme a total of 112 oral presentations, 141 short pitches, 84 poster presentations and four interactive workshops took place.

The Conference chair, Professor Tom Fahey, Professor of General Practice, RCSI and HRB Centre for Primary Care Research said, "The annual scientific meeting of SAPC is always an invaluable opportunity for clinicians and researchers in primary care to share their work. The academic programme reflected the vitality of research in the area and the importance of good science and academic rigour in the identification of solutions to the myriad of issues seen in primary care. It was fantastic to welcome our colleagues to Dublin to share their research findings."

A number of renowned international speakers in primary care attended the meeting including Professor Chris Dowrick, Professor of Primary Medical Care, University of Liverpool and general practitioner, delivered the third annual Helen Lester Memorial Lecture. In this presentation he spoke on the subject of 'Suffering and hope', where he detailed the various ways in which doctors can offer hope to patients in distress. 

Professor Matthias Egger, Director of the Institute for Social and Preventative Medicine, University of Bern, gave a talk entitled ‘Bad science or bad behaviour? The reporting of medical research’, where he discussed the quality of clinical research and the impact of standardised reporting guidelines. Professor Margaret Cupples, Professor of General Practice at Queen's University, Belfast spoke on ‘Cardiovascular disease: non pharmacological intervention’ and Professor Theo Verheij, Professor of General Practice, UMC Utrecht, div. Julius Centrum delivered a talk on ‘Patient safety issues and infectious disease’.