Earlier this month, some of our team attended the New Organising Conference (NOC) in Liverpool. A space where campaigners from across movements can come together to share experiences, learn from one another’s successes, and their challenges. Sara, EveryDoctor’s behind-the-scenes powerhouse who keeps our admin and research running smoothly, has written about what the experience meant to her…
Florence and I attended the New Organising Conference in Liverpool on the weekend of the 5-7 th September 2025. This is the third conference they have run but was the first time for us. It was advertised as “a space to lift up each other and share the energy and inspiration that will power another year of organising” and it didn’t disappoint.
Everybody there was so welcoming, interested, respectful and keen to help. The sessions I attended were interactive and thought provoking:
I learnt how UNISON’s strategic organising unit are running the Pay Fair for Patient Care campaign.
This campaign is about empowering band 2 healthcare support workers who have taken on more responsibilities, but who haven’t had the pay and recognition to match, to fight to be rewarded, recognised and respected. It was inspiring hearing how workers had been given the confidence and hope that things could change, and to then learn that they had succeeded in winning that change and been re-banded to receive the pay and respect they were due, and that they managed to get it back dated too.
I was shocked to learn that although the job descriptions within each pay band are agreed nationally for the NHS that this fight has to happen in each individual Trust!
What an unnecessary waste of time, energy and money! Not to mention the upset and inconvenience caused to the patients affected by the action!
Another great session I went to was about Fun Palaces.
They invite you to take what you do for fun, share it with your friends, neighbours or people in your area and create a Fun Palace. They hold an annual Weekend of Celebration of arts, science, craft, tech, digital, heritage and sports events and activities – run by and for local communities. This year it’s on 3 – 5 OCTOBER 2025.
Fun Palaces will help you set up your own Fun Palace, you’ll get to know your local community better and be part of something bigger!
They have an interactive map on their website so you can check out if there’s a Fun Palace near you!
The other sessions were about how to organise and plan research and campaigns, many of which we are already discussing amongst the team!
Overall, I had a wonderful couple of days in a beautiful city amongst enthusiastic, kind, thoughtful and inspiring campaigners and organisers.
I have come back with my head buzzing with ideas and new contacts that I hope EveryDoctor will be able to work with moving forward.
As Sara has so clearly shown, the conference was a fantastic chance to connect, recharge and imagine a more hopeful future together. It was also a special moment for our own team – since we usually work online, this was the first time Sara and Florence got to meet in person.
At EveryDoctor, we often speak about the power of community, and this experience was a vivid reminder of just how transformative it can be, both within the wider campaigning landscape and within our own team.
We’re excited to put what we learned at the conference into practice to make our campaign even stronger.
Your support is what makes this possible: it enables us to do this work, build these connections, and keep pushing for change. We’re so grateful to you!
