We are pleased to announce the launch of our 3rd Bi-Annual Conference, CDNA: LIVE 09, the UK’s premier event for those involved in all aspects of Community Nursing Care.

2009 is a particularly important year for the CDNA, as it marks 150 years of District Nursing in the UK and where better to host our event than Liverpool, the original home of district nursing.

BT Convention Centre

CDNA: LIVE 09 will take place over two days and entrance is FREE to CDNA Members. The event will begin with a Gala Dinner and Awards Evening to announce the winners of the CDNA’s Community Nursing Awards.

The main conference, CDNA: LIVE 09 will focus on the current issues and developments taking place within the community care, district nursing and social care arenas. Our Chair is Anne Duffy, Chief Executive of CDNA, who has been working very closely with the Department of Health to develop a programme for the conference, which promises to be informative and thought provoking.

Purpose built facilities

Numerous key stakeholders from across the UK will be present at this prestigious conference. They will join several high-profile speakers to discuss the latest topics, developments and progress within the Community Nursing Care sector.

Keynote Speakers include Ann Keen MP (Parliamentary Under Secretary for Health Services), Viv Bennett (Deputy Chief Nursing Officer – England), Rosemary Cook CBE (Director Queen's Nursing Institute) and Ursula Gallagher (Director of Nursing - Commissioning, Ealing PCT). We will also be joined by James Davis, who will share his experience of an exciting Community Nurse Safety initiative taking place in the USA.

Royal Liver Building

The NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement will be presenting a preview of the "Productive Community Services" work. This is the latest development in their successful "Productive" series and is due to be released in the summer 2009.

We will release further details about the programme in the coming weeks, so please check the web site regularly to learn more.

150 Years of District Nursing

2009 is a particularly important year for the CDNA, as it marks 150 years of District Nursing in the UK and where better to host our event than Liverpool, the original home of district nursing.

City Centre Cathedral

In 1859 William Rathbone, a Liverpool merchant and philanthropist, employed a nurse, Mary Robinson, to nurse his wife at home during her final illness. After his wife’s death, he retained Mary Robinson’s services so that people in Liverpool who could not afford to pay for nursing would benefit from care in their own homes. Seeing the good that nursing in the home could do, William Rathbone and Florence Nightingale worked together to try to develop the service. When too few trained nurses could be found, Rathbone set up and funded a nursing school in Liverpool specifically to train nurses for the 18 ‘districts’ of the City – and so organised ‘district nursing’ began.

Source: Queens Nursing Institute

If you would like to learn more about William Rathbone and the beginning of District Nursing, please visit www.districtnursing150.org.uk