Primary Care Rheumatology Society

The annual conference of the PCR society took place last weekend at the Park Inn Hotel in York

This excellent and well-organised conference is always a great success. The programme followed the tried and tested approach of lectures and small group clinical workshops delivered over a two-day period, covering a wide variety of topics and current issues relevant to GPs with an interest in Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal medicine. The quality of the guest speakers was excellent, with the content of presentations relevant, informative and entertaining. The small group clinical workshops were well organised and offered a wide variety of interest areas, including practical ‘hands on’ clinical sessions – invaluable learning that you can’t get from just reading a journal or textbook!

The Park Inn hotel is an ideal venue with comfortable modern accommodation and facilities. Views overlooking the river are lovely, and an easy five-minute stroll takes you into the centre of historic York. All in it’s a rather lovely place to hold a conference, and the timetable this year even allowed for a short ‘shopping break’ on Friday afternoon! The only downside is parking if you come by car – limited spaces at the hotel and costs around £10 a day. The train station is walking distance; so coming by rail is definitely worth considering.

The atmosphere throughout the weekend was relaxed, friendly and informal – and everyone was made to feel welcome. Thursday evening’s wine reception, buffet supper and ‘Have I Got News For You’ quiz was a great fun with lots of healthy heckling from the audience. Friday night saw a procession of well-wrapped revellers leave the Park Inn bar, for a brisk walk in the cold night air, to arrive at  ……… restaurant for the annual conference dinner. The number of bleary-eyed expressions and muted voices the next morning attested to the success of this occasion

The annual PCR conference is always interesting, informative and hugely enjoyable – and our thanks again to Helen Livesley and everyone else for all their considerable efforts and hard work

I definitely plan to be back there again next year – perhaps see you there!


Dr Tom Rowley

(GPwSI in MSK medicine and Hospital Practitioner in Orthopaedics - Leicester)