Governance Conference 2025
📅 20-21 May 💻 online, via Zoom
Discover
Ensuring the NHS is fit for the future is necessary and urgent.
Join us online for this year's Governance Conference, on 20 and 21 May to explore practical strategies for meeting the challenges ahead.
With effective leadership of strategy and assurance, your board plays a crucial role in meeting organisational and system objectives while mitigating risk. This year's conference theme, Good governance: Anchoring in a shifting landscape, provides a platform to explore strategies for navigating an evolving context. With lessons from other sectors and peer insights, the sessions are designed to support and sustain good governance.
Who should attend
This event is designed for NHS board members and governance professionals to come together and is the only one of its kind. The event is an opportunity to:
- Reflect on the implications of government policies for your organisation and system.
- Discuss practical strategies to sustain good governance, or improve it.
- Share experiences and challenges with peers in a supportive environment.
Programme
09.45
Registration
10.00
Welcome
Introduction and chair's welcome
10.10
Plenary 1
Governance fit for the future
Our opening session provides an overview of current health strategy and policy, and the latest on the political context. With a focus on implications for provider governance, we will set the scene and look to the future, exploring the changing context in which NHS trust boards lead, and the government's improvement agenda including the 'three shifts': care closer to home, from treatment to prevention, and analogue to digital.
Speaker
Isabel Lawicka
11.00
Break
11.10
Peer Exchange 1
Achieving integration to deliver the 10-year health plan
It has long been agreed that integrating health and social care services is desirable for patients, staff and wider system flow. Join this session to reflect on the government's ambitions for integration that is key to supporting the government's three shifts and the development of a Neighbourhood Health Service. Our panel will share their experiences of navigating mismatched governance policy, funding and regulatory landscapes, and will explore the enablers of effective and sustainable integration. They will also share learning, and discuss what would be needed to enable routine, well-governed integration to improve population health long term.
Chair
Paul Howard
12.00
Lunch
14.00
Plenary 2
The changing role of directors
Explore the changes over the past decade that have impacted directors' roles and consider the likely leadership qualities that will be required to govern well in coming years. The expert panel will consider wide-ranging issues which may include leadership styles in a collaborative NHS, the implications of increased complexity for the director skillset, and how board members might manage the competing demands of the evolving NHS.
14.55
Afternoon break
15.05
Peer Exchange 2
Leading for the future – the changing role of directors
Hear from governance practitioners and directors with experience of, or ideas about, addressing some of the issues explored in the preceding plenary. In this facilitated discussion, our panel will share their practice and learning to help you reflect on your own leadership and that of your board.
Chair
Paul Howard
16.00
Close
09.45
Registration
10.00
Welcome
Introduction and chair's welcome
10.10
Plenary 3
Assuring patient safety in the NHS
Explore evidence-based approaches honed through decades of patient safety research to address the complexities of managing risk in the NHS. This session will focus on how boards can measure and monitor safety, navigating risks both within their control and those that are systemic. We will also discuss how healthcare regulation supports safety and where it may hinder improvement efforts.
11.00
Break
11.10
Peer Exchange 3
Managing risk and assuring patient safety in systems
This session will focus on the importance of aligning risk management with the realities faced on the frontline, ensuring that strategies reflect the actual challenges. The session will also examine the value of risk sharing across the healthcare system, and whether and how collective responsibility and collaboration can enhance patient safety.
Chair
Jayne Phoenix
12.00
Lunch
14.00
Plenary 4
Learning from inquiries
Gain insights from experts experienced in investigating systemic failures and contributing to public inquiries, including the Grenfell inquiry and the Mid Staffordshire investigation. This session will explore how boards can recognise key characteristics that help avoid failures, assure themselves that lessons are applied, and foster a culture of safety. Drawing on decades of healthcare and regulatory experience, the panel will discuss learning from significant cases, the role of boards in addressing system risks and practical strategies to reduce harm and drive improvement.
Chair: TBC
14.55
Afternoon break
15.05
Peer Exchange 4
The board's role in culture change
Explore how far board activities and behaviours can influence organisational culture within trusts. This session will discuss the impact of self-reinforcing sub-cultures, the complexities of local and system-wide partnerships, and the challenges of stretched board capacity on cultural leadership. The panel will reflect on what boards can do to understand, shape, and sustain cultures that support the delivery of effective care in this evolving landscape.
Chair
Jayne Phoenix
16.00
Conference close
Speakers
Alison Cottrell
Non-executive Director
East London NHS Foundation Trust
Alison began her career as a City economist before joining HM Treasury where she held a number of policy and leadership roles. She is also a NED at LINK (the UK's cash access and ATM network) and a trustee of Phoenix Futures.
Alison will be joining us as a speaker at our 'The board's role in culture change' peer exchange session.
Bernadette Thompson OBE
Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Bernadette has extensive experience as a civil servant, having worked for 23 years at high-profile UK government departments and agencies, including the Ministry of Justice, Home Office, HM Treasury, Legal Aid Agency, Cabinet Office, and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities. And her passion for driving cultural transformation and diversifying talent pipelines has earned her recognition and respect across many different sectors.
She co-chaired a multi-award-winning, cross-government race network for five years and is a respected influencer and trusted partner to senior leaders across a range of sectors. In 2020, she won the Workplace Hero category in the National “Investing in Ethnicity” Awards for championing and driving race equality and inclusion across the civil service, and in 2021, she won one of the prestigious "We are the City" Rising Star Champion awards.
In 2021 she was awarded by the late queen an Order of the British Empire for services to diversity and inclusion in the UK public sector.
Bernadette is a highly sought-after speaker and facilitator who provides training, facilitates organisational discussions and delivers keynotes on various topics including diversity, inclusion, culture change, leadership, employee engagement and wellbeing.
Bernadette will be joining us as a speaker at our 'Leading for the future – the changing role of directors' peer exchange session.
Claire Stoneham
Executive Director of Strategy and Major Projects
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Claudia Soiland-Reyes
Public Health Manager
North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust
Crishni Waring
Chair
Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust
In 2022, Crishni was appointed as integrated care board chair for NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire and in 2023, joint-chair of the Leicestershire Partnership and Northamptonshire Healthcare Group.
Crishni will be joining us as a speaker at our 'The board's role in culture change' peer exchange session.
Damien Regent
Non-executive Director
Kingston and Richmond NHS Foundation Trust and Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust
Daniel Elkeles
Incoming Chief Executive
NHS Providers
He has been an accountable officer since 2012, first for five Clinical Commissioning Groups in north west London, then chief executive for Epsom and St Helier Hospitals NHS Trust.
Since September 2021 he has been chief executive at London Ambulance Service NHS Trust. Daniel is passionate about improving culture and inclusivity in the workplace. In the 2024 staff survey, London Ambulance Service had the highest response rate of any provider.
He will be joining NHS Providers as chief executive towards the end of May 2025.
Daniel will be joining us as a speaker at our 'The board's role in culture change' peer exchange session.
Dr Paul Corrigan
Special Advisor
Department of Health and Social Care
Dr Rosie Benneyworth
Chief Executive Officer
Health Services Safety Investigations Body
She has a longstanding interest in improving the quality and safety of care that people receive and has held several senior leadership roles in health. This has included chief inspector of primary medical services and integrated care at Care Quality Commission, managing director of the Southwest Academic Health Science Network, and as a clinical commissioner with Somerset Primary Care Trust and Clinical Commissioning Group. Rosie has a background in primary care and worked as a GP in Somerset for 15 years.
Rosie also has significant non-executive experience, and is currently a non-executive director on the board of University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust. She has also held roles as a non-executive director and vice chair of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and a trustee of the Nuffield Trust.
Rosie will be joining us as a speaker at our 'Learning from inquiries' plenary session.
Isabel Lawicka
Director of Policy and Strategy
Isabel will be joining us as a speaker at our 'Governance fit for the future' plenary session.
Jayne Phoenix
Non-executive Director
Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
Melanie Roberts
Chief Nursing Officer and Director of Infection, Prevention and Control
Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust
Michele Romaine
Former Chair
North Bristol NHS Trust
She has spent many years modernising production in the media worldwide, particularly in the use of new technologies to get lasting, enhanced productivity. Organisational Development trained, she is particularly interested in the alignment of culture and the processes in organisations to deliver real, measurable improvement.
Michele will be joining us as a speaker at our 'Achieving integration to deliver the 10-year health plan' peer exchange session.
Neil Spenceley
Clinical Director
Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow
Paul Howard
Director of Corporate Affairs and Risk Management
Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
Paul is the co-chair of the NHS Providers Company Secretary Network and the tutor and examiner for the Chartered Governance Institute's advanced certificate in health service governance.
Paul will be joining us as chair at our 'Achieving integration to deliver the 10-year health plan' and 'Leading for the future – the changing role of directors' peer exchange sessions.
Professor Charles Vincent
Professor of Psychology at University of Oxford, Emeritus Professor Clinical Safety Research at Imperial College London and Emeritus Fellow at Jesus College Oxford
He established the Clinical Risk Unit at University College in 1995 where he was professor of psychology before moving to the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial College in 2002. He is the editor of Clinical Risk Management (BMJ Publications, 2nd edition, 2001), author of Patient Safety (2nd edition 2010) and author of many papers on medical error, risk and patient safety. With René Amalberti, he published 'Safer healthcare: strategies for the real world' Springer, Open Access (2016).
From 1999 to 2003 he was a commissioner on the UK Commission for Health Improvement and has advised on patient safety in many inquiries and committees including the recent Berwick Review.
In 2007 he was appointed director of the National Institute of Health Research Centre for Patient Safety and Service Quality at Imperial College Healthcare Trust. He is a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and Emeritus National Institute of Health Research Senior Investigator. In 2014 he took up a new post as Health Foundation professorial fellow in the department of psychology, University of Oxford where he continues his work on safety in healthcare and led the Oxford Region NHS Patient Safety Collaborative and was director of Oxford Healthcare Improvement.
Charles will be joining us as a speaker at our 'Assuring patient safety in the NHS' plenary session.
Professor Heather Caudle
Group Chief Nursing Officer
Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust
Heather Caudle will be joining us as a speaker at our 'Managing risk and assuring patient safety in systems' peer exchange session.
Professor Henrietta Hughes OBE
Patient Safety Commissioner
Acting as an independent champion for patients, Henrietta leads a drive to improve the safety of medicines and medical devices by ensuring that patient voices are at the heart of the design and delivery of healthcare in England.
A practising GP and visiting professor at the Institute of Medicine, University of Greater Manchester, Henrietta is a member of the Health Honours Committee and the guiding group of the Women's Health and Care Leaders Network. Henrietta was previously the national guardian for the NHS and a medical director at NHS England. She has held executive and non-executive roles in the NHS and is chair of Childhood First, a children's charity.
Henrietta will be joining us as chair at our 'Assuring patient safety in the NHS' plenary session.
Professor Naomi Chambers
Professor of Health Management
University of Manchester
Recent research projects comprise changes in board-level leadership practices in hospitals in England following the Francis Report (completed 2018), the evaluation of the NHS Well-Led framework (completed 2020), curated patient stories for the book 'Organising care around patients' (published in 2021) and editorship of the 'Research handbook on leadership in healthcare' (2023). Current projects include an analysis of recent maternity services public inquiry reports from the perspective of frontline staff, using labour process theory.
Naomi will be joining us as a speaker at our 'The changing role of directors' plenary session.
Professor René Amalberti
Director
Foundation for an Industrial Safety Culture
René was the director of the national research program on land transport safety (1998-2008), and special advisor on patient safety to the director of the HAS (2007-17, French Accreditation agency), as well as director of the Foundation for a Culture of Industrial Safety (since 2007). He is a member of the National Academy of Technologies of France (since 2016).
René will be joining us as a speaker at our 'Assuring patient safety in the NHS' plenary session.
Professor Sir Terence Stephenson
Chair
NHS Providers
Professor Sir Terence was knighted in the 2018 New Year Honours for services to healthcare and children's health services. He was selected as an National Institute of Health Research Senior Investigator for four years from April 2022.
Professor Sir Terence was chair of the UK General Medical Council (GMC) from 2015-2018. Before the GMC role, he was chair of the UK Academy of Medical Royal Colleges 2012-2014 and President of the UK Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health 2009-2012. In these roles he has worked with five Secretaries of State for Health in Westminster governments of three different parties.
He has been elected an honorary fellow of eleven national colleges or academies, in the UK, Ireland, Hong Kong and Australia. He is also an honorary consultant in paediatrics at University College London Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital London and has co-authored seven textbooks.
Professor Sir Terence will be chairing the conference, and will also join us as a chair at our 'Governance fit for the future' and 'The changing role of directors' plenary sessions.
Rachel Evans
Chief People and Strategy Officer
Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust
Rachel has a masters in international business law (LLM), a masters in people and development (MSc) and is a chartered fellow of the Chartered Institute of Professional Development.
She is the chair of the South East London Staff Equality, Diversity Committee and presents regularly on strategy, inclusion, staff experience and governance. Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust was awarded HSJ 'Trust of the year' in 2023 and the trust has recently been included as a Sunday Times 'Best place to work'.
Rachel Evans will be joining us as a speaker at our 'The board's role in culture change' peer exchange session.
Rob Walsh
Chief Executive
North East Lincolnshire Council Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board
Following the establishment of the Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board, the North East Lincolnshire health and care system supported Rob's designation as executive place lead. He is the Yorkshire and Humber chief executive representative on the Local Government Association's Health and Care Sounding Board, a forum for engagement between local government and the Department of Health and Social Care.
Rob will be joining us as a speaker at our 'Achieving integration to deliver the 10-year health plan' peer exchange session.
Rob Webster
Chief Executive
West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership and West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board
Sandra Igwe
Chief Executive Officer
The Motherhood Group
As the founder and chief executive of The Motherhood Group, Sandra leverages community engagement, technology and advocacy to create a comprehensive ecosystem of support for the black maternal experience. Her deep understanding of the community's needs and her ability to foster trust has enabled her to facilitate crucial dialogues between families and healthcare providers, leading to more effective and culturally sensitive care.
Through The Motherhood Group, Sandra delivers impactful community-based events like Black Mum Fest, maternal training workshops, and the Black Maternal Health Conference UK. She spearheads national campaigns such as Black Maternal Mental Health Week UK and oversees culturally sensitive programmes commissioned by NHS England. The organisation also maintains a community hub in Lambeth Town Hall, providing a safe space for black mothers and families.
Sandra is also co-chair of the national inquiry into racial injustice in maternity care and a trustee of Birthrights Charity. Her book, 'My black motherhood: mental health, stigma, racism and the system', amplifies the voices of black mothers and challenges healthcare professionals to listen, believe, and understand their experiences.
Sandra will be joining us as a speaker at our 'Learning from inquiries' plenary session.
Scott Greer
Professor of Health Management, Policy and Global Health
University of Michigan
Siva Anandaciva
Director of Policy Events and Partnership
The King's Fund
Before joining The King's Fund in 2017, Siva was head of analysis at NHS Providers. He has also worked on medicines policy and urgent and emergency care in the Department of Health and Social Care in England.
Siva is a member of the Office of Health Economics policy committee and the steering group of the BRACE Rapid Evaluation Centre and chaired the National Payment Strategy Advisory Group for NHS England. From January 2025 he will join Barts Health NHS Trust as an associate non-executive director.
In 2020, 2023 and 2024 Siva was included in the Health Service Journal list of the 50 most influential Black, Asian and minority ethnic figures in English health care.
Siva will be joining us as a speaker at our 'The changing role of directors' plenary session.
Steve McGuirk
Chair
Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Additionally, he advised the Local Government Association and the National Employers' Organisation and provided critical evidence to numerous select committee and public accounts inquiries.
Recognised for his exceptional contributions, Steve received the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (1996), the Queen's Fire Service Medal (2002), and a CBE (2005). Since 2011, he has also served as a deputy lieutenant for Greater Manchester.
After leaving the Fire Service, Steve embarked on a second, 'portfolio' career. One key focus has been healthcare leadership, serving as chair of Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for nearly a decade, guiding it through the unprecedented challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic and leading its ongoing recovery and improvement.
At the same time, Steve has remained deeply connected to the fire sector. He served as an expert witness to the Grenfell Tower Fire Public Inquiry and is advising the Scottish Procurator Fiscal.
Steve will be joining us as a speaker at our 'Learning from inquiries' plenary session.
Why attend
This conference offers a blend of expert-led sessions, practical discussions and peer exchanges to help you navigate today's governance landscape and prepare for future demands. The programme includes four dedicated sessions where speakers will share real-world successes and lessons learned, followed by facilitated Q&As to deepen understanding.
You'll leave equipped with tools and strategies to address critical issues such as:
- governance fit for the future,
- the changing role of directors,
- assuring patient safety, and
- the board's role in culture change.
With opportunities to engage in discussions, ask questions and share experiences, this event will empower your board to lead with confidence and impact.
Book your place
Free tickets for NHS Providers members (NHS trusts and foundation trusts)
NHS Providers associate members (partners and integrated care boards): tickets at £150 plus VAT.
If you are unsure of your membership status, please get in touch at events@nhsproviders.org
Peer exchange sessions
These sessions are your chance to connect with peers, learn from their experiences and ask the questions that matter to your organisation's success.
Our interactive peer exchange sessions will tackle key challenges in NHS governance: Our four sessions will explore:
- Achieving integration to deliver the 10 year plan.
- The board's role in culture change.
- Managing risk and assuring patient safety in systems.
- Leading for the future: the changing role of directors.
sponsorship opportunities
Share your organisation's products, services or solutions with key leaders from NHS trusts, system partners and industry stakeholders by becoming a conference partner.
If you work in, or with, NHS board members and governance professionals, we offer a range of packages to enhance your visibility and drive meaningful connections.
Contact our event team at events@nhsprovides.org to discuss how you can get involved.
Contact us
For further information or for any questions relating to the conference, email our events team at events@nhsproviders.org. You can also follow us on Bluesky and LinkedIn and see our hashtag #Governance25 to see conference updates.