Bishop Paul Colton President of St. Luke’s Charity, Cork and Chairman of the Board of Directors, pictured at the St Luke’s Home Annual Conference, Resident, Staff, Family, Relationships at the Radisson Blu Hotel.
(Photograph: Gerard McCarthy)

On Thursday, 6th April, 5th Annual St Luke’s Charity Conference was hosted by the Northridge House Education and Research Centre within the charity at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Little island, Co. Cork.

The theme of this year’s conference was: Residents – Staff – Family Relationships in the Residential Care Setting.  The conference attracted more than 180 delegates from 76 different organisations, healthcare professionals from mainly residential nursing homes, in addition to some from the acute sector and several from the disability sector.

The Conference explored the challenging and complex relationships in the residential care setting and how best to achieve positive outcomes for families, staff and ultimately the residents, themselves.  The opening address was given by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Charity, Dr Paul Colton, Bishop of Cork.

The principal speaker was Dr. Michael Bauer from Australia,  who is well researched and published in this area and St Luke’s was honoured and delighted that he agreed to deliver the keynote address. Delegates described the day as thought provoking and  informative and left with lots of tips and ideas on how to improves staff – family dynamics in their own organisations.

David O’Brien CEO St Luke’s Home, Dr Marie Murphy (Consultant Physician in Palliative Medicine, Marymount Hospice), Bishop Paul Colton, and Dr Michael Bauer. (Photograph: Gerard McCarthy)