54th Annual EWOPA Meeting

We are delighted to invite you all to the 54th annual meeting of the European Working Group on Psychosocial Aspects of Children with Chronic Kidney Disease (EWOPA) in London, UK. This meeting will take place in conjunction with Evelina London Children’s Hospital department of Paediatric Nephrology.

We hope to build on the excellent foundations and experience of all previous successful meetings, including last year's excellent conference in Manchester. This unique non-hierarchical, MDT approach has been vital for the sharing of unique experiences, research, best-practice examples and networking with colleagues, all of whom share a passion for the psycho-social aspects of kidney disease in children.

We welcome doctors, nurses, pharmacists, psychologists, educators, psychiatrists, dietitians, social workers, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, researchers, play therapists, healthcare assistants, paramedics, youth-workers, administrators and hospital managers alike. All have something to contribute and learn.

We look forward to welcoming you to London. We hope that this meeting will be a great success and anticipate once again a wonderful conference, exchange of ideas and inspirational working practices.

Evelina Children's Hospital in the Heart of London:

A Long Tradition of Holistic Medical Care for Renal Patients

The meeting will be hosted in Central London at St Thomas' hospital which is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Trust (GSTT). It has been central to the development of kidney research, dialysis and transplantation in the UK for more than 150 years, with key milestones from early kidney disease description in the 1800s that helped found nephrology as a distinct discipline, to one of the country’s first combined dialysis–transplant units in the 1960s. More recently we marked 50 years of kidney transplantation at Guy’s and St Thomas’!

Our hospitals have also played an important, but more implicit than explicitly documented, role in developing psychosocial care within renal and transplant medicine, mainly through early holistic paediatric care, the growth of multidisciplinary working to include dietitians, play specialists, and the later formalisation of specialist renal psychology, social and support services. When paediatric renal services were developed at Guy’s in the 1960-70s, consultants such as Cyril Chantler argued that for children with renal failure, family dynamics, schooling and long‑term development all had to be considered with equal importance to the medical management. Through participation in national renal associations, quality‑improvement networks and workforce mapping work on psychosocial provision, GSTT colleagues have contributed to wider debates about the need for specialist renal psychology, social work and supportive‑care services for both adults and children with CKD.

We are proud to be contributing to the ongoing development of psychosocial care for children with kidney disease by hosting the 2026 EWOPA meeting and hope to make this simultaneously the most enjoyable and informative meeting for all our colleagues from Europe who will be joining us!

Programme

Conference Venue:
St Thomas' Hospital, Westminster Bridge Road, London, SE1 7EH, UK

Schedule:

Thursday 4th June 2026

• Conference: 13:30 - 17:30
• Welcome drinks reception: 17:30 onwards

Friday 5th June 2026

• Conference: 08:30 - 17:00
• Evening: EWOPA Gala Dinner & Entertainment
  Venue: EV Restaurant, The Arches, 98 Isabella St, London, SE1 8DD. The gala dinner requires a separate ticket - we encourage all delegates to join us for this special networking evening!

Saturday 6th June 2026

• Conference: 09:00 - 13:00

Accommodation

As we are based in Central London, where hotel accommodation is expensive but commuting is relatively easy, we recognise colleagues attending the conference may want to book further away from the centre and have not recommended any particular hotel. We are happy to make suggestions of areas to find more affordable accommodation if needed. Please get in touch by emailing [email protected]

Evelina London Children's Hospital organising committee for EWOPA's Annual meeting 2026

Tickets are available at an early bird rate as shown below until Tuesday 31st March 2026.

STANDARD:

Standard Conference attendance : GBP £300

1-day attendance: GBP £150 (Friday main full day)

1-day attendance : GBP £75 (Thursday or Saturday half days)

REDUCED FEE (Allied Health Professional/Students/Trainees)

Reduced Fee discount GBP £220

Reduced fee discount 1-day attendance: GBP £120 (Friday main full day)

Reduced fee discount 1-day attendance: GBP £50 (Thursday or Saturday half days)

EMERGING ECONOMY NATIONS- please contact us if you think you qualifyfor a special discount

There is the option to pay for a dinner place at a cost of £60.00

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