The MHRA GMDP Symposium took place on 11 to 14 November 2019 in London and 26 to 27 November 2019 in Glasgow. As part of my role as a GMDP Operations Manager I had overall responsibility for planning and delivery of the GMP days which this year had the theme of ‘Control Strategies’. My colleague Bernadette Wilson, in her role as a GDP Operations Manager, had overall responsibility for the GDP days which this year focused on supply chain challenges faced by wholesalers.
We were very pleased to take the GMP part of the event to Glasgow this year. The GMP team found it invigorating to visit a new venue and engage with a wider audience. The joint event was a great success, so we will continue to run the full GMDP event in London and Glasgow again in 2020.
I summarised the agenda for both GDP and GMP days in my pre-event post which can be found here. As a result of the general election held on 12 December the symposium events fell in the pre-election period and we were unable to answer delegate questions on the topic of the UK’s exit from the EU during the event. This is because the Civil Service operates within specific guidance in relation to Government business during the pre-election period in order to maintain impartiality. We were pleased to be able to deliver the agenda largely as planned, despite this additional challenge.
Looking back on the event I felt the speakers across both days did a great job. The presentations used a range of styles that complemented each other very well and all supported the workshop sessions. The GDP workshop sessions gave delegates the opportunity to review case studies covering some of the real issues faced by the GDP team throughout the year. In the GMP workshop session delegates used their newly developed skills to identify key risks and how a control strategy might address them. We hope the interactive parts of the event gave delegates some practical skills to take back to their workplace and put into practice.
We received the delegate feedback report just before the Christmas break and I was very pleased to see that across both London and Glasgow the overall impression was extremely positive. We take a lot of pride in delivering this event so I’m glad we lived up to delegates’ expectations as well as our own. At the same time we’re always looking for improvements, so we will be going through the feedback with a fine-toothed comb to identify any changes to make the next event even better.
It only remains for me to say thank you to the Inspectorate speakers, the MHRA Events staff, and the team from Glasgows who helped us put on such a well-managed event. Finally, thanks to the delegates who attended and contributed to the event; we hope to see you again next year. We will confirm dates and venues for the 2020 event within the next few months so keep an eye on www.mhragmdp.co.uk for details.
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