About this event
- Date and time Tue 16 Apr 2024 from 8:00am to 5:00pm
- Location Royal Society of Medicine
- Organised by Medicine and Society
The NHS has a serious workforce crisis, 10% vacancy rates are common across the country and, across professional groups, often higher. This was true before Covid. Post-Covid, record levels of burnout and high numbers exiting the NHS are reported. At the same time, the nature of healthcare work is changing. The impact of technology, AI, demographics, and public expectations, amongst others, means our workforce needs to change too.
This can be a perfect storm or the opportunity for renewal. However you see it, come and join us to hear leaders from across the NHS, local government, social care providers, the voluntary and community sector and those with lived experience of services, share their stories and contribute to the discussion about what we want the future for NHS staff to be like.
In partnership with the Health Innovation Network, this conference will provide a forum for discussion of the current crisis facing the NHS and the opportunities for change.
By attending this conference, you will:
- Gain and consolidate an overview of the drivers influencing the shape of the future healthcare workforce
- Discuss these drivers in relation to the themes in the NHS Long Term Plan: Train, Retain and Reform
- Have an opportunity to learn from other industries and countries
- Identify next steps to inform a post-conference report
The primary aim of the conference is to provide a forum for discussion of the current crisis facing the healthcare workforce and the potential opportunities for change alongside the introduction of technology and AI. We hope to help participants think creatively outside the usual recruit and retain approach to workforce planning. We will produce a briefing paper for the conference and an output paper – the two together will be a publishable ‘so what next’ report. This will help the deliberations of the conference to be influential outside the discussions on the day.
Agenda
View the programme
Before the conference
A briefing paper covering data on recruitment and retention, alongside a summary of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan will be sent to all attendees before the conference. A report will be produced post-conference.
Breakfast session
Mindfulness
This session will be led by Bunmi Ogunbona, Coach and Associate Facilitator, B Life Balanced.
Invest an hour at the beginning of the day to centre yourself, release stress, and connect with your purpose as we engage in breathwork, movement, journaling and communal reflection accompanied by a live mix of ambient sounds that will take us on a journey around the planet.
Places limited. Please book your place when registering for the event.
Registration, tea and coffee
Session one: Looking to the future
Chair: Professor Roger Kirby, President, Royal Society of Medicine
Welcome and introduction
Professor Roger Kirby
The context
Data and policy: Professor Namita Kumar, Regional Postgraduate Dean NHSE NEY, Co Chair NHSE Postgraduate Deans, National Dean for PGMDE Risk and Business Oversight
Looking to the future
The future of the professions: Professor Richard Susskind, OBE, Author, Speaker and Independent Advisor
The patient of the future: Mr Jono Broad, Patient Leader
The role of the population, the Wanless Report 20 years on: Professor Maggie Rae CBE, FFPH, FRCP (Hon), FRCP Edin, FRCPath (Hon), FFSRH (Hon), FFOM (Hon), FRSPH, President, Epidemiology and Public Health Section, Royal Society of Medicine
Discussion with audience
Tea and coffee break
Session two: Workstreams - Your thoughts and ideas
We will run four workstreams addressing key issues in the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan: Train, Retain and Reform. The sessions will include hearing from policy makers, researchers and people making a difference in practice. Sessions will be interactive, participants will be posed questions to discuss, and then feedback their thoughts and ideas. Each workstream will have reporters who will summarise the session and share this with all participants in the afternoon.
Please indicate which workstream you would like to join on your registration.
Technology and innovation has a huge potential to create more time and space for clinicians through enhanced diagnostics, streamlining of administrative processes, and the potential of AI to support health analytics. However, this requires change in the workforce both in terms of the training required to get the best out of technology and the need for skill mix change.
Chair: Jane Lewis, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, ABHI
Speakers: Dr Aisling Higham, Medical Director, Ufonia, and Vinay Badhwar
Dr Par Bolina, Chief Executive, Calarity
Professor Sheona Macleod, Director of Education and Training, NHS England
Working in healthcare has always been stressful, however the emotional impact of COVID-19 on staff, alongside changes in ways of working and increasing work pressure has increased burnout and dissatisfaction with work. Organisations have a duty to their staff and patients to bring joy back to work.
Chair: Professor Dame Clare Gerada
Speakers: Dr Helen Garr, Medical Director NHS Practitioner Health and Henriette Lang, Ambassador Doctors in Distress
We all know that culture eats strategy for breakfast. The NHS plan is a good start, but the reality will be in how it is implemented. It is the behaviours of our leaders, top to bottom and end to end, individually and collectively” that creates an organisations culture (Michael West). How do we ensure that our organisations embody the values of the NHS, support the aspirations of our staff, whilst at the same time providing great patient care?
Chair: Dr Ronke Akerele, Director of Staff Experience and Engagement, NHS England
Speakers: Kate Jarman, Co-founder, Flex NHS and Chief Corporate Services Officer, Milton Keynes University Hospital, and Marcus Riddell, Interim Chief People Officer and Director of Workforce, Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust
Lunch
Poetry Pharmacy with William Sieghart
Session three: Learning from others
Chair: Professor Gillian Leng, CBE, Dean of Education, Royal Society of Medicine
Welcome back
Professor Gillian Leng
Feedback from morning workstreams
John Chen, Doctor in training
Stephanie Fang, Medical student
Miranda Geddes-Barton, Doctor in training
Nafi Iftekhar, Medical student
Ridwan Hasi, Medical student
Learning from other countries
Ben Simms, Chief Executive Officer, Tropical Health and Education Trust
Learning from other industries
Andi Britt, UK HR and Talent Transformation, IBM Consulting
Bringing four to the fore: The 4 day week is better for everyone in healthcare
Dr Dale Whelehan, Chief Executive Officer, 4 Day Week Global and Lecturer, Smurfit Graduate School of Business, University College Dublin
Discussion with audience
Tea and coffee break
Session four: So what next?
Chair: Vivienne Parry, Writer and broadcaster
Panel discussion
Ms Caroline Waterfield, Director Development and Employment, NHS Employers
Mr Jon Restell, Chief Executive, Managers in Partnership
Dr Vivek Trivedi, Junior Doctors Committee Co-chair, British Medical Association
Mark Lever, Chief Executive Officer of Helpforce
Dr Helen Salisbury, General Practitioner, Oxford
Lynn Woolsey, UK Deputy Chief Nurse, The Royal College of Nursing
Discussion with audience
Closing address
Dr Sam Anthony: a personal perspective
Close of meeting
Drinks reception
Dinner
Places limited. Please book your place when registering for the event.
Location
Royal Society of Medicine, 1 Wimpole St, Marylebone, London, W1G 0AE, United Kingdom
Registration for this event will close at 1:00am on Monday 15 April 2024. Late registrations will not be accepted.
The agenda is subject to change at any time
If the event is recorded, we are only able to share presentations that we have received permission to share. There is no guarantee that all sessions will be available after the event, this is at the presenter’s and RSM’s discretion.
All views expressed at this event are of the speakers themselves and not of the Royal Society of Medicine, nor the speaker's organisations.
This event will be recorded and stored by the Royal Society of Medicine and may be distributed in future on various internet channels.