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.
11.00
Break
11.10
Peer Exchange 1
Achieving integration to deliver the 10 Year 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.
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.
Speakers
René Amalberti
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.
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.
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.
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.
16.00
Conference close
Speakers
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
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 & 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 most 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.
Dr Rosie Benneyworth
Interim Chief Executive Officer, Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB)
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 (CQC), 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 (NICE) and a trustee of the Nuffield Trust.
Sandra Igwe
Chief Executive, 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.
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
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.