The Health Promoting Hospitals and Health Services (HPH) conference 2014 is the first such event on the Iberian Peninsula. The HPH network in Catalonia that will host the conference was only founded in 2008 but has quickly developed into a HPH stronghold in South‐Western Europe. It has recently focused on innovative and timely topics such as health literacy or workplace health promotion.
Upon the proposal of the local hosts, the Scientific Committee decided to dedicate this conference to “Changing hospital & health service culture to better promote health”. By focusing on this general theme, the conference program acknowledges the need for organisation‐wide reform and development to support a more health promoting culture in health care, following the demand of WHO’s Ottawa Charter for a re‐orientation of healthcare services, and concepts of Health Promoting Hospitals and Health Services (HPH).
The conference will also address the feasibility of cultural change in healthcare in times of economic crisis.
There will be three sub‐themes:
- Health literacy ‐ an emerging concept for more patient‐oriented healthcare;
- Enhancing the health environment for health professionals ‐ Developing a more salutogenic culture for and by healthcare staff;
- Better health care responses to community needs through a culture of cooperation between organisations and settings.