NHS England is to host its biggest event of the year with the Health and Care Innovation Expo 2014.

To be staged on March 3 and 4 at Manchester Central, Expo is expected to attract thousands of delegates, all of whom want to bring about changes in health and care. Expo will be lively, engaged and participative.

Keynote speakers will include Ara Darzi, Victor Adebowale, Jane Cummings, Tim Kelsey, and chief executive Sir David Nicholson, as well as medical director Sir Bruce Keogh.

There will also be a series of short and punchy discussions and debates.

Everyone attending Expo will be a student at the pop-up NHS University, able to build their own bespoke course from a wide range of seminars and workshops.

The courses will be arranged around a set of themes including creating widening care in the primary sector;  excellence in acute and hospital care; catalyst for change; people powered health and care; leadership for change; inside health and care, and living well for longer.

As Expo is being staged in Manchester there will also be a special focus on the North, “This is how we are doing it”, featuring a series of case studies of how innovation is developing high quality care for all.

The two days will also feature Camp Expo, where delegates will be encouraged to pitch in ideas and showcase their work – with no agenda required. What happens at Camp Expo will be set by people who choose to present there.

Whether becoming a dementia friend at the dementia café, picking up new digital health skills or making a pledge for NHS Change Day, everyone will be inspired, will make new contacts and move the dial on their professional ambitions.

Running alongside Expo will be a fringe event with lots of lively debate.

Another key theme will be how we plan and deliver integrated care for long term conditions.

NHS England’s clinical director for long term conditions, Dr Martin McShane, said: “Long term conditions are the biggest problem facing the health and care system and the costs are growing year on year. They are huge already and they will continue to grow. It’s the health care equivalent to climate change.”

He explained that today over 15 million people in England have one long-term condition which accounts for 70 per cent of the overall £110 billion NHS budget, which is about £77billion. This is as well as the £10.9 billion spent on those with long-term conditions from the social care budget.

Dr McShane added: “The NHS is still set up to deal with Twentieth Century medical needs and must evolve rapidly to better handle long term conditions, the greatest challenge of this century – and that is why the Innovation Expo is a vital way of reaching those who can change the way we operate.”

Delegates will be immersed in an environment that shows health and care working together and the possibilities this lends to improving quality in the services the NHS provides.

Over the two days the fast-paced and interactive programme will unite people from the full spectrum of health and care, the voluntary sector, commissioners, clinicians, leaders and innovators.

Dr McShane called on people to sign up and be part of Innovation Expo, adding: “The NHS can’t do this by itself.  We need everyone to share their experience, their expertise of what works and what doesn’t, to find a way to improve the care and treatment for those with long term conditions.

“Doctors, nurses, allied health workers, carers, social care and even housing support are the experts.  We need you to get involved.”

For more information visit the Innovation Expo 2014 website and follow all the news as it happens on Twitter @NHSExpo  #Expo14NHS