UK Member of Parliament Jeremy Hunt to join panel of experts on patient safety at ICN Congress

World Health Organization will lead three sessions at the ICN virtual Congress

The Right Honourable Jeremy Hunt, member of the British Parliament, will join an important session on patient safety at the International Council of Nurses’ (ICN) Congress to be held virtually 2-4 November 2021.

The session, which will be led by the World Health Organization (WHO) incudes Dr Neelam Dhingra-Kumar, Unit Head, WHO Patient Safety Flagship; Irina Papieva, Technical Officer, WHO; Carey McCarthy, Technical Officer, WHO, and Elizabeth Iro, Chief Nursing Officer, WHO; as well as Dr Amanda Ullman, Director, Paediatric Teaching and Research Network, Mohammed G. Alghamdi, President, Saudi Nurses Association; and Dr Enrique Castro-Sanchez from the Faculty of Medicine and Department of Infectious Disease, Imperial College London.

The session will discuss how the challenges that nurses face in their daily practice as well as in emergency situations affect safety of their patients and the possible ways to avoid harm in health care. It will elaborate on a wide range of challenges, including staff physical safety and safe working environment, staff workload and mental health, leadership and safety culture, teamwork and communication as well as patients’ engagement.

Jeremy Hunt has been a Conservative Member of Parliament for Southwest Surrey since May 2005. In May 2010, Mr Hunt was appointed Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, during which time he oversaw a successful Olympic and Paralympic Games in London in the summer of 2012. From 2012 to 2018, Jeremy Hunt held the position of Secretary of State for Health, and in June 2018, he became the longest serving Secretary of State for Health in British history. In July 2018, Jeremy Hunt was appointed Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, a position he held until July 2019. He was elected as Chair of the House of Commons Health and Social Care Select Committee in January 2020.

The WHO Patient Safety session is one of three sessions at the ICN Congress which will be organised by WHO. The two others will focus on the International Year of the Health and Care Worker: Time to Protect. Invest. Together. and on the Strategic Directions for Nursing and Midwifery 2021-2025. High profile experts from WHO will also take part in other plenary sessions throughout the Congress, with Dr Maria van Kerkhove, WHO COVID-19 Technical Lead, taking part in a panel session on The COVID-19 pandemic: The global response and lessons learnt to prevent future pandemics and WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus giving a keynote session on the final day of the Congress.

For the past 120 years, the ICN Congress has served as the global platform to gather and empower the global nurse community. From 2-4 November 2021, the virtual Congress will bring together the nurses of the world around the theme “Nursing Around the World”. Highlighting critical issues for nursing today, the Congress will also feature Mr Ban Ki-moon, former United Nations General Secretary, Michelle Bachelet, High Commissioner for Human Rights and former President of Chile, Guy Ryder, Director General of the International Labour Organization, and the Right Honourable Helen Clarke, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, amongst others.

The Congress has attracted messages of support from celebrities around the world, including Oprah Winfrey and the K-pop band SHINee, which will be shown throughout the Congress to inspire and honour the global nursing workforce. To join this exciting virtual event, register here.

Further information and regular updates on the Congress 2021 programme are available on the congress website: www.icncongress2021.org

Download the press release here