Our flagship annual conference and exhibition, taking place on 7-8 November in Birmingham, will gather over 500 NHS trust leaders alongside wider healthcare stakeholders to explore solutions to the shared challenges we face.

We’re pleased to announce that we now have a number of high-profile plenary speakers confirmed including Jim Mackey, chief executive of NHS Improvement; Jeremy Hunt, secretary of state for health; and Alistair McLellan, editor of HSJ.

Dr Paul Lelliott, the Care Quality Commission’s deputy chief inspector (mental health); and Claire Murdoch, national mental health director at NHS England will join us to discuss the challenges that mental health providers face and how we transform mental health services for the future.

Take a look at our new event website which features the latest programme and speaker line-up.

Our conference strand programme, developed with input from trusts, will explore the themes of money, quality and workforce. Each strand includes a series of sessions where delegates will be able to share ideas, learn and be inspired.

Some of the highlights from our wide-ranging session content includes:

• Keith Conradi, chief investigator at the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch will look at how to build stronger investigative skills for enhancing patient safety.
• Adam Roberts, head of economics at the Health Foundation will share his findings on payment systems past, present and future.
• Cathy Ellis, chair of the Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust; and Hardev Virdee, chief finance officer of Central and North West London Foundation Trust will share thoughts on the Carter report into operational productivity on community and mental health trusts.
• Greg Moores, director of human resources, organisational development and equalities, South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, will talk through what they are doing at a local level to tackle workforce challenges.

Over half of trust leaders are worried about having enough staff with the right skills, both now and in the future. Our policy officer, Georgia Butterworth, takes us through the workforce strand in more detail and explores local innovative solutions to national workforce challenges.

The two days promise to be full of insight, inspiration and solutions. We hope to see you there.

Our annual conference and exhibition takes place on 7-8 November at the ICC in Birmingham. Find out more, and to register your place.