The EDTNA/ERCA conference in Nice, in September 2001, was, not only the first conference of this Millennium, but also the 30th year of the organisation itself. With a membership now up to 4600 from 65 countries, the EDTNA/ERCA annual European Conference attracted over 3000 delegates.

Immediate-past-president Nicola Thomas opened the conference and addressed the delegates in both French and English. A warm welcome was extended to new Key Members from Croatia, Romania and Israel. Also celebrated were new collaborative agreements with National Organisations in Belgium, Greece, Slovenia and Turkey.

The opening ceremony also celebrated the organisation's momentous 30 years and included a comprehensive overview by Richard Dingwall of both the evolution of the EDTNA/ERCA, and of dialysis therapies themselves.

The overarching theme of "Patient-centred care: the growing challenge", set the tone for a conference, where delegates actively sought answers to dilemmas, explored new technology and shared advances in therapy management, while remaining focused on the patient's experience.

On this first day, delegates had a wide choice of sessions ranging from "Care of Staff", to "Advances in Computer Online Support". Particularly well received was the "Quality of Life" session in the main auditorium where, despite a missing speaker, we heard about the very real impact of renal failure on the family.

Juliet Auer used some particularly striking case histories to demonstrate the impact of treatment and emphasise some of the limitations and loss of choice families have. Sue Perrin complimented this overview with a very informative, focused and practical guide to the use of Advanced Directives.

Different language forums were held during the lunch-time interval in a variety of settings. Unfortunately, the UK forum was quite poorly attended considering there were 437 UK delegates. The UK Language Forum is an opportunity for UK members to meet and hear what initiatives have taken place that year and what plans there are for the coming year. It's a chance, not only to meet your Key Member, but also to strengthen networks.

At this session, Althea Mahon, as UK Key Member, presented three scholarships for winning abstracts. (The UK submitted 77 abstracts to this-year's conference from which 47 were accepted: 33 as oral presentations and 14 as posters.) Heather Jayasekera then introduced the launch of the Collaborative Research Project (CRP) on the "Epidemiology of Hepatitis C". UK delegates were also excited to hear that Birmingham would host the European conference in 2003.

Research and development were strong themes again on day two, with sessions on this in both the morning and the afternoon. They included current research in both past and future CRP projects and an update of data collected in these areas.

Despite many technical difficulties for some speakers with PowerPoint presentations, the Vascular Access Session later on remained thought provoking.

In particular, Dee Waterhouse's presentation on the advanced role of a nurse clinician, in placing vascular access caused great debate.

Yet again, education of staff was a constant theme throughout the conference. On day three, this was led by the first guest speaker from Israel, Zehava Gavish, who spoke on support for nursing managers and training for Head Nurses to be leaders. All too often emphasis is placed on new staff and it was excellent to hear how managers of services can also be supported.

Although the use of National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) to train unqualified staff in dialysis units is particular to the UK, the problem of skill mix and training is common throughout Europe. This topic certainly saw some of the more-heated debates on both the first and last day. Questioning came from the audience as to whether an unqualified member of staff should be caring for a patient at all and to whom were they accountable. In an era of limited qualified nurses to recruit from, this debate remains essential and significant.

It would remain incomplete to discuss Nice and not highlight the excellent setting, conference venue and hospitality that was extended to conference delegates. Indeed the size of the Acropolis Centre allowed for an extensive corporate area, which facilitated both hospitality and educational opportunities.

Further to this was the excellent display area for posters, so often the poor relation of a conference. The space and placing of these encouraged delegates to view, read and discuss with the authors the high standard of work produced.

For the first time this year a session code was announced at the end of each session by the Chair and the delegates tasked with collating these and presenting them for accreditation at the end of the conference. What initially appeared to be an unwieldy task actually proved manageable and valuable to the delegates as a clear record of attendance.

The final day and the farewell party saw the expected release of professionalism and inhibitions! A fitting celebration at the end of an excellent conference.