You're invited to the UK's leading, largest, and longest standing conference on managing addictions in primary care, delivered in partnership with Addiction Professionals.
Join us in-person or online and celebrate our 30th anniversary as we bring together pre-eminent experts in the field of substance and behavioural addiction, and offer you the opportunity to listen, learn and network with more than 300 healthcare professionals across the field.
From beginner guides to specialist advice, personal accounts to big picture thinking, our plenaries and workshops offer something for everyone with an interest in addiction services.
This conference will reflect on the challenges and improvements over the past thirty years and look forward at how we can improve medicine and support for patients and service users. The programme covers a range of topics both specialised and holistic, and has evolved with the ever-changing addiction care landscape. Alcohol and drug related deaths are at an all-time high in the UK*. This is why harm-reduction, tackling the stigma around addiction to encourage more people to seek help, and understanding how health inequalities impact additions are central focuses this year.
“The standard of the presentations this year was exceptionally high and […] I learned a great deal of new information plus talking points to make me think. Good for networking too.” – 2025 conference attendee, specialist in addiction psychiatry, Wales, UK
Who attends
All primary care workers including:
- GPs
- Shared care workers
- Nurses
- Specialists
- Commissioners and researchers
- Medical students
Increase your knowledge and understanding of:
- Current interventions for the prevention, assessment and treatment of alcohol, other drug problems and behavioural addictions.
- The requirement for both primary care and specialist interventions, and when to use them.
- Drug and alcohol policies in the UK and how they are implemented in primary care.
- Links between multiple needs, health inequalities and substance misuse.
- The challenges, improvements and primary care work in this area over the last 30 years.
This conference is brought to you in partnership with Addiction Professionals, a UK charity formed from a merger of Substance Misuse Management in General Practice and the Federation of Drug and Alcohol Practitioners. Their vision is to have a competent, confident, and accredited workforce in the addictions sector to provide the best possible treatment for people with addictions.
Conference chairs
Stephen is a GP at the Windmill practice in the inner city of Nottingham and has worked there for the past 20 years. He also works as a “GP for the homeless” at the local Friary drop-in; in both roles he sees a wide variety of people who use alcohol and other drugs, often in harmful ways. Twice weekly he works as a consultant for the city’s specialist alcohol service. He has a public health role with Nottingham city council as clinical lead for alcohol and substance misuse. He has been the national chair for this RCGP conference since 2012.
Kate is the Executive Director for Addiction Professionals, a network and voluntary registration body for people working in the addictions sector. She is a social worker who, worked for over 20 years in addiction services during which time she developed and supported primary care based drug and alcohol treatment. She was instrumental in introducing hepatitis C testing into her local services, supported pharmacy training and worked closely with the criminal justice system and the local hospital to improve continuity of care for those using services. She has been involved in the development of training programmes and has a teaching qualification. She is involved in expert groups to support the implementation of the Drug Strategy including the Workforce Transformation Programme. She is also a local authority councillor.
Managing addictions in primary care (MAPC) will be hosted at the chic INNSiDE Melia hotel near the Liverpool riverfront. Located in the old Liverpool Post & Echo building, this contemporary space is now operated by the highest-ranking hotelier in S&P's Global Sustainability Yearbook.
A limited number of bedrooms are available to delegates of this conference at a discounted rate via the INNSiDE hotel Liverpool by Meliá website.
Transport
Train
- 5-minute walk from Moorfields Merseyrail station (Old Hall Street exit)
- 25-minute walk from Liverpool Lime Street station
Bus
- Directly opposite Edmund Street bus stop
Car
- 5-minute walk from NCP Liverpool Capital (L3 9DL), with a discounted rate available to overnight hotel guests only.
This conference is open to all medical professionals, and you do not need to be a member of the RCGP to book your place. Simply create a free non-member account during registration and you will be able to complete your booking.
Early bird price until Wednesday 5 November 2025:
- One-day ticket: £219
- Two-day ticket: £299
Standard price from Thursday 6 November 2025:
- One-day ticket: £265
- Two-day ticket: £365
Discounted tickets are available to medical students.
To book your place, email us using your institution email address (usually ending in '.ac.uk').
Student early bird price until Wednesday 5 November 2025:
- One-day ticket: £149
- Two-day ticket: £199
Student standard price from Thursday 6 November 2025:
- One-day ticket: £179
- Two-day ticket: £239
Programme overview
Our sessions will cover alcohol research and treatment, drugs including ketamine and opioids, as well as behavioural addictions such as gambling and video games. We will also be looking at innovations in treatment using AI, along with harm reduction measures such as The Thistle, a drug consumption facility in Glasgow.
See full programmes below:
Share your work: Call for abstract submissions
Have you recently developed a service? Overcome a local problem and/or improved practice? Perhaps you've undertaken research or a service quality improvement audit? Or event produced educational and training materials, in a film or other media?
This could be your opportunity to share your work with primary care workers across the UK who deal with substance and behavioural addiction care.
To submit an abstract, download the application form (PDF file, 720 KB) and email your completed submission to RCGPconferences@rcgp.org.uk
Deadline for submissions: Thursday 4 December 2025, 16:00.
Camurus
Camurus is a pharmaceutical company with a clear commitment - to lead the development of advanced drug delivery systems and innovative medical products to improve quality of life for patients with severe and chronic diseases.
Our work addresses several therapeutic areas, including opioid dependence.
We aim to support healthcare professionals and their patients in accessing innovative treatments, helping to overcome the barriers that can often stand in the way of treatment choice.
We also want to help remove the stigma associated with a complex condition like opioid dependence and encourage a more empathetic approach to patients from policy makers, healthcare providers and the public at large.
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