WICC Meeting in Newcastle

Submitted by Gustavo Gusso, WICC Chair

The WONCA International Classification Committee (WICC) is a working party created in 1972 to discuss and develop tools that organize and collect information in the context of family medicine and primary health care. WICC met in Newcastle (UK) between September 22 and 24, 2024. The meeting was hosted by Nick Booth, a long-standing and active member of the group. There were 23 participants from 14 countries, including Australia, Belgium, Brazil, France, Japan, the Netherlands, and Norway.

The main topics discussed were the implementation and updating of ICPC-3, the communication of the group's activities, training initiatives in classification and data collection. Traditionally, the group organizes a time when various guests or members give presentations related to the Committee’s work. At this meeting, presentations were given by the EDGE AI Hub Project, PRIMIS (University of Nottingham), EAVESii (Strathclyde University) and INTEGO (University of Leuven).

One of the meeting highlights was the presentation of reports from different countries about how they use classifications in primary care locally and prospects for the future. With the availability of Large Language Model tools, there will certainly be advances in the area of data structures and analysis in the primary health care context. Family doctors need to be attentive and active in order to be able to influence decisions about the choice of tools for the benefit of health teams and patients.

Related images

Interview with WICC Chair Prof Gustavo Gusso (Brazil)