For the first IHHC National Conference to be held in Perth, the setting was the glamorous Crown Perth complex at Burswood – with Crown Casino itself just a short walk from the Grand Ballroom, which hosted the IHHC Trade Expo, Culinary Competition and morning and afternoon teas, and the plenary sessions held in the adjacent Astral rooms. Delegates therefore had the option of staying at several hotels within the complex, including the Crown Metropol, Crown Towers and Crown Promenade – then joining us for the daily and evening events which ran from the commencement of the Conference on Monday 4 November to the Gala Dinner and Awards presentation, held in the dazzling Crown Ballroom on the evening of Wednesday 6.

The theme of this year’s Conference was ‘Compassionate hospitality – creating a culture of care through innovation’ and it was exemplified throughout the many presentations, workshops and information sharing from our expert speakers and across the events and site visits held over the three days.

Those arriving early for the conference on the afternoon of Sunday 3 November were invited to join us for mini-golf session from 2.45pm at the nearby course, followed by an informal networking get-together at the Camfield Hotel – providing a great opportunity to catch up with old friends and make some new ones.

The following morning kicked off – prior to the commencement of the Conference proper – with three site tours: the first to Optus Stadium, a true Perth landmark and winner of the  2019 Versailles International Architecture Award for world’s most beautiful stadium; the second to St John of God Subiaco, a worldclass private hospital with 578 beds and some 900 highly qualified medical practitioners providing specialty surgical services; and the third to Sunlong Fresh Foods, a state of the art facility featuring 12 separate cool rooms running different temperatures, two freezer rooms and two blast chillers, with the interactive tour including a show and tell, cooking demo and lunch for all attendees.

The conference was began at 1pm with a welcome from well-known Brisbane television presenter and journalist Victoria Carthew, returning as MC for the third consecutive year. This was followed by the traditional Welcome to Country Ceremony, then the official opening address by Chris How of St Jude’s Health Care Services.

Our first keynote speaker was Professor Fiona Wood, Director of the Burns Service of Western Australia (BSWA) and a consultant plastic surgeon at Fiona Stanley Hospital and Perth Children’s Hospital. She is also co-founder of the WA’s first skin cell laboratory, Winthrop Professor in the School of Surgery at the University of Western Australia and co-founder of the Fiona Wood Foundation. A pioneer of the spray-on skin technique to treat burns victims, Professor Wood gave an inspiring and educative address to a rapt audience, getting the conference off to a fantastic start.

Following afternoon tea, IHHC stalwart and life member Gary Kennedy gave a presentation on the proposed changes to environmental regulations, which you can read about here; followed by presentations from Tony Rutherford of Bethanie Group, Kaye Veri of ISS Facility Services and Andrei Kononov of Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne.

Then it was time for the highlight of day one – the 2024 IHHC Culinary Competition, with MC Alistair McLeod putting out high-profile finalists through their paces! Once again four sets of two-person teams competed, with interest from the audience as strong as ever – a fitting finale to our first day.

Day two opened with a welcome and updates from Victoria Carthew followed by a series of topical presentations and a workshop on implementing best practice food allergen management in healthcare. Our second keynote address, ‘Cultivating a culture of change through psychological safety’, was presented by Rob Horstman of EQ Minds, a seasoned leader with a wealth of experience in corporate, local government and community sectors. Rob covered mindful leadership, mental wellbeing and the importance of building resilience.

The afternoon’s programming saw two streams of presentations running concurrently, allowing us to cover a wide range of topics. These included a sector-wide investigation into food waste in hospitals and aged care presented by Kate Sansome of University of Adelaide, delivering best practice in mental health foodservices by Denise Cruickshank of QLD Health, and Dr Karen Abbey talking about texture modified foods. Lorenzo Tadeo of IHHC Supporter Freudenberg gave an insightful presentation on antimicrobial resistance in healthcare cleaning.

The evening’s networking event was hosted by WA IHHC Gold Supporter Furniture Options at their nearby showroom, giving attendees the opportunity to experience innovative healthcare furniture displays while enjoying casual drinks and canapes.

Day three began with our third keynote address, this time by Michael Wear, CEO of Tidal Moon which is a collaboration with three Aboriginal communities engaged in training and supporting the next generation of local indigenous people while maintaining cultural heritage and environmental stewardship. Michael explained how Tidal Moon’s efforts in farming sea cucumbers exemplified a culturally directed approach to sustainability.

Following a presentation by diet consultants Kylie Walton and Caitlin Zowtyj of Food Solutions and David Martin, Executive Chef Manager at St Vincent’s Care - who gave an informative presentation on taking a multidisciplinary approach to innovative menu creation,  incorporating insights from speech pathology, dietetics and foodservice - the programming again split into two concurrent streams until afternoon tea.

This included a panel presentation on why ware washing matters, featuring representatives from Meiko Australia Pacific, Winterhalter and Classeq Australia, Moffat and Hobart Food Equipment; what we can learn from the Maggie Beer Foundation menu appraisal process, presented by Julie Dundon of Nutrition Professionals Australia; a case study on the national rollout of room service at St John of God Healthcare, presented by Libby Tearne; and a beginner’s guide on how to successfully divert food waste from landfill presented by Nathan Cook of Monash University.

The final presentation was from Lilian Forrest of NSW Healthshare, who spoke on reshaping patient food experience through menu redesign - a fascinating and food-for-thoughtful end to three days of expert advice and insights.

This was followed by the reveal of the venue for next year’s conference – we’ll be returning to the Pullman on the Park in Melbourne from October 27-29, as announced by our National President Lisa Cranham.

Then it was time for a break of several hours, before we all reconvened for the Conference Gala Dinner, which hosted the presentation of the 2024 IHHC National Awards of Excellence. Featuring a James Bond/Casino Royale theme, the dinner saw many delegates coming stylishly ‘dressed to kill’!

Each year the IHHC National Conference proudly supports a charity and this time we successfully raised more than $3000 for Ruah Community Services which delivers practical, creative solutions for people experiencing homelessness, family and domestic violence and the challenges of living with chronic mental illness. Ruah executive manager strategy and development Mark Slattery gave a sobering presentation on these serious concerns and the great work that Ruah is doing, partnering with government and health/welfare agencies to help develop new evidence-based models of care and to drive social change for the better.

Following the announcement of our National Award winners, there was one final presentation – the Flavour Creations Texture Modified Food Award, which was won again by Senior Catering Operations Specialist Lindsey O’Grady of RiseUp Group, who had previously won in 2022. Then it was time for dancing to the strains of our live band, which brought the festivities to a raucous close.

As always, we extend our heartfelt thanks and congratulations to all involved with the planning and organising of the conference as it was another resounding success. And we look forward to catching up with everyone next year in Melbourne!