Canberra Innovation Day 2021

24^th March 2021 will go down in our organisation’s history as the first day we were truly acknowledged for the vital role we play in the high quality, affordable and accessible healthcare system we enjoy in Australia. We held a Pathology Technology Innovation Day 2021 in Australia’s Parliament, Canberra.

We were honoured to have the Minister for Health; Hon. Greg Hunt opening our event and to hear his expansive acknowledgement of the role our members play in healthcare. He made the surprise announcement of the reimbursement of HbA1c testing at the point of care. The first reimbursement application launched jointly by PTA and our members. Having the Minister attend was especially gratifying, given that he had only recently returned to work from sick leave, and he had cancelled all other external meetings for the day.

Because of COVID limitations we were required to significantly limit the number of members who could attend. Those that could were effusive in their praise for the event. So much so that we are already planning a much larger event for the future.

By all measures we hit or exceeded the metrics we set for this event:

• Hon Greg Hunt opened the meeting
• Attended by 12 federal parliamentarians
• Resulting in 5 immediate follow up, one on one meetings, and further 16 expressions of interest in meetings. Some of these meetings have now gone on to develop long term relationships with key parliamentarians.
• The event generated 100 new followers on LinkedIn during and in the days after the event, and generated over 3,100 impressions and messages
• At one stage we were in the top 1% of views on LinkedIn for the day.
• Our website saw a significant spike in visits.

The event not only provided a platform to display innovation, but it also provided an opportunity for parliamentarians and invited senior staff from the Departments of Health and Industry, Science, Energy and Resources to enjoy 2 seminar sessions. The seminars featured presentation from members and key experts such as Adj Prof John Skerritt and Prof Mary-Louise McLaws.

This event was just over 12 months in the making and huge credit goes to the Market Development Committee, led by Nic Latouche with great assistance from the Market Communication Committee led by Jenny Carson. To all the committee members, substantial thanks for a great job.