SOA26: Something for Every Profession
With our 25th Congress now behind us, we thought we’d take a moment to reflect on SOA26, in particular from the perspective of our Professional Advisory Groups (PAGs).
The On Demand State of the Art Congress 2026 Box Set is now live!
If you couldn't join us in Birmingham, the Box Set gives you the opportunity to watch key presentations and learn whenever it suits you. There is something for every profession, including these highlights from our PAGs:
Advanced Practitioners in Critical Care: The session introducing the new edition of the Guidelines for the Provision of Intensive Care Services (GPICS), which highlights the strengthened expectations across infrastructure, workforce and clinical processes, as well as the session presenting the recently published MARCH trial.
Allied Health Professionals: ‘Humanising the ICU from a patient’s perspective’, findings from iRehab, sessions on health inequalities across ICU, and the NCEPOD review one year on, a ‘How To’ for the JICS, ‘When Care Continues Beyond Survival: the journey of organ donation in critical care’, sessions on crisis management, and the wellbeing session featuring new findings from the SEISMIC-r study, as well as the closing plenary.
Consultant Intensivists: Sessions explaining research findings from MARCH and BICARICU 2, the session on ‘When Care Continues Beyond Survival: the journey of organ donation in critical care’, ‘Pride and Prejudice: How misconduct erodes our workplace and what to do’, the masterclass in the law and the role of the courts, the explanation of GPICS 3, and the closing plenary, which presented new ways of disseminating research, teaching and changing practice.
Nurses: The opening plenary, ‘Sustaining ICU: How can we cut ICU resource use?’, ‘Pride and Prejudice: How misconduct erodes our workplace and what to do’, sessions on law and ethics in ICU, on AI in ICU, and on humanising the ICU journey. Additionally, sessions on health inequalities across ICU, the NCEPOD review one year on, a ‘How To’ for the JICS, and the closing plenary.
Pharmacy: ‘Beyond the Sepsis Six’, ‘Bugs, Drugs and Inflammation: Managing Infections in the ICU’, and research presentations from MARCH, ANDROMEDA-2 and BICAR-ICU.
Physiotherapists: iRehab and MARCH research sessions, the patient-centred discussion on humanising the ICU journey, and ‘Mechanical Life Support – emergency resuscitation in ECMO, Impella & LVAD’.
Resident Doctors: ‘The Cauldron – exploring big questions and bold solutions in Intensive Care’, the radiology masterclasses, which focused on interpretation of common ICU investigations, ABC of ICM, which provided practical, evidence-based insights drawn from across the multidisciplinary intensive care community, and ‘TRIC Network: Resident-led research and innovation competition’.
Specialty (SAS) Doctors: ‘Pride and Prejudice: How misconduct erodes our workplace and what to do’, ‘All Rise in the Courtroom: Law and Ethics in the ICU’, and discussions on wider issues faced by staff working in intensive care medicine.
Alongside the jam-packed programme of educational, research and industry sessions, the ‘Meet the PAGs’ sessions provided a valuable space to share ideas, discuss challenges and identify opportunities for the year ahead.
What’s next for the PAGs?
The PAGs play a vital role in ensuring that each profession represented across the ICS has a voice that shapes the Society’s work. And their work doesn’t stop after SOA!
Here are just a few upcoming projects our PAGs are working on:
The Allied Health Professionals PAG is working with the Physiotherapists PAG on the rollout of the Capability Framework. The group is also expanding representation across professions, including psychology, and helping to shape future educational events and webinars.
The Advanced Practitioners in Critical Care PAG is engaging in ongoing discussions around scope of practice and is helping to promote robust governance, training and professional development across the profession.
The Consultant Intensivists PAG is contributing across all Society activities and has a strong voice on Council representing the priorities of members. They are helping shape the strategic direction of the Society and contributing to the advancement of quality, safety and research across intensive care.
The Nurses PAG is developing new educational events and webinars, contributing to standards and guidelines work, supporting workforce wellbeing initiatives, and helping shape responses to issues affecting the nursing workforce.
The Pharmacy PAG is gathering feedback from members to better understand what support and opportunities pharmacists want from the Society, helping shape future educational content and webinar programmes.
The Physiotherapists PAG is working with the Allied Health Professionals PAG on the Capability Framework to create a more accessible development pathway for the wider critical care workforce. It is also releasing a series of Inside Intensive Care webinars in 2027, improving its communication with members and building a resource repository for the ICS website.
The Resident Doctors PAG is launching a new podcast series – keep an eye out for the first release – and is also exploring opportunities for future resident doctor-focused educational events.
The SAS Doctors PAG has now filled all elected positions and is focusing on how best to connect with, support and represent SAS doctors working in intensive care. Priorities include improving engagement, supporting career development and strengthening links with related professional groups.
In addition to profession-specific projects, PAG members continue to play an important role across the Society’s wider work. Representatives contribute to educational programmes, webinars and the Inside Intensive Care series, as well as shaping standards and guidance. They also support research activity and priority-setting, provide professional representation on consultations and policy issues, and work with ICS teams to ensure the voices of different professions are reflected across the Society’s activities.
If you are interested in getting involved and hearing more about PAG activities and how they could serve you and your profession, or if you have ideas, please contact your PAG Chair or email the ICS Engagement Manager directly at marie@ics.ac.uk.
