The annual meeting of the EPUAP this year in Tampere, Finland is, as in the past, the major activity of our organization. It is appropriate that we are holding it in Finland this year, especially in view of the support that our Finnish members have given the EPUAP since its inception, and I would particularly like to thank Helvi Hietanen for her energetic contribution as a leader of the local organizing committee.

The meeting is organized by the Business Office with the input of the scientific committee chaired by Michael Clark. This year we have had more than eighty-five excellent abstracts received for presentation on pressure ulcers. In the programme there are slots for twenty-eight oral presentations; the number was limited in order that the majority of delegates could attend the main sessions. There will be more than fifty poster presentations with the authors presenting at special breakfast and tea sessions near the posters in order to allow them to discuss their work with attendees. The posters are a major feature of the EPUAP Annual Meeting and they contribute a wealth of knowledge on pressure ulcers as well as allowing time for in-depth discussion between the authors and delegates.

Following the success of the satellite symposia at our meeting last year in Budapest, this year (on Thursday morning) we have four sponsored symposia which have been arranged by ConvaTec, Johnson & Johnson, KCI and Smith & Nephew. Two of these will take place before coffee and two before lunch, before the opening of the main meeting. We hope that you will support these excellent sessions in which the subjects are all related to pressure ulcer prevention and management, with well known and knowledgeable speakers in each of the symposia’s programmes. Details of the symposia are in the programme abstract booklet.

If you are a paid-up member of the EPUAP I would encourage you to attend this year’s annual general meeting on Friday, at lunch time, as a number of administrative changes need to be ratified, particularly those concerning becoming Trustees of the EPUAP.

You will find an invitation in this issue of the Review to attend a celebration of Gerry Bennett’s life and work, which is to be held in London on 21 September 2003. Please note that if you wish to attend, please contact the Warden’s Office at the address on the invitation.
Next year our annual meeting will be held in Paris at the Palais des Congres during the World Union of Wound Healing Societies meeting 8–13 July 2004. EPUAP is a co-hosting society of this meeting and is part of the programme planning committee with regard to pressure ulcers.

The members of the Business Office look forward to seeing you all in Tampere at the EPUAP stand.

George Cherry
EPUAP Business Office, Oxford