The seminars will be covering current issues within the care sector and are free for visitors to attend. CPD certificates are available for seminar attendees upon completion of a Certificate Request Form which will be available at the show via QR codes that can be scanned in the seminar room.
Further speakers to be revealed soon. Stay tuned for programme updates.
2025 Programme to be announced soon – please see the 2024 line-up below
10.15am -11.00am: Future-Ready Workforces: Balancing Retention, Wellbeing and Development
Engage in a forward-looking panel discussion exploring the intricate balance of retention, wellbeing and personal development, offering insights for cultivating adaptable and thriving teams in evolving environments.
Leah Cooke, Associate, W&P Compliance Centre
Shirley Way, Head of Area, Skills For Care
David O’Brien, Talent Attraction Manager, Right at Home UK
Jacqui Ritchie, Chief Operating Officer, Four Seasons Health Care Group
11.30am – 12.00pm: Inclusive Design for Dementia
Dementia involves progressive cognitive decline, including memory loss and communication issues, significantly impacting individuals. Extensive research focuses on “dementia-friendly” designs, particularly in residential and healthcare settings. Despite the varied effects, tailored environmental adjustments can improve the lives of those affected. The seminar will discuss these techniques and their benefits, exploring the underlying principles to create inclusive spaces for all users.
Lauren Di Pietro, Associate, Scene Architects
12.45pm – 1.30pm: Technology Integration in Care – Best Approaches and Innovations
Delve into health and social care enabling technology. Our panel discusses best approaches and innovations in integrating technology into care, exploring ways to enhance user outcomes, support person-centred approaches and streamline healthcare processes.
Kieron Broadbent, Chief Executive Officer, West Midlands Care Association
Matthew Bond, CEO, Borderless
Michelle Corrigan, Programme Director, Digital Care Hub
Antony Hall, Director of Insights, Assurance and Governance, HC-One
2.15pm – 2.45pm: An Update From the CQC
With the rollout of the single assessment framework almost complete; join us for an overview of the single assessment framework including the quality statements, evidence categories and how we will be scoring in the future. There will also be an opportunity to ask questions within the session.
Deanna Westwood, Director of Operations Network South, Care Quality Commission
Our speakers will be sharing their years of knowledge, strategies and tactics in our exciting seminars and panel sessions!
Take a look below to find out more about each of our experts and why you won’t want to miss seeing them in action.
Further speakers to be announced soon!
Antony Hall
Antony Hall’s Bio
Following a successful career in Primary Care, Antony began work as an Inspector of care homes with CQC, where he stayed for nearly 10 years. The last three years of his time at CQC were spent as the Head of Inspection for the whole of London. Antony is also well known for providing focus on the importance of oral care and wrote the influential CQC report ‘Smiling Matters’.
Antony joined HC-One, the country’s largest residential care provider, in 2020 and is responsible for all aspects of insights, quality assurance and governance. He is responsible for the largest digitalisation programme ever implemented in social care. Antony is also HC-One’s Nominated Individual with CQC and is a research Fellow at the University of Bradford.
David O’Brien
David O’Brien’s Bio
With over 20 years’ experience in the employability sector, David has a wealth of knowledge in talent acquisition, driving positive performance and championing employee wellbeing. Working at Right at Home UK as Talent Attraction Manager, David leads both the Recruitment and Training Departments at the National Office. Since joining the organisation only 15 months ago, David has already assisted with the development of a Registered Managers training programme and supercharged local recruitment and retention strategies right across their network of over 80 territories. Working in social care has further fuelled David’s long-standing passion and enthusiasm for providing, developing and educating on professional career opportunities
Deanna Westwood
Deanna Westwood’s Bio
Deanna has worked for the Care Quality Commission in its various incarnations since 2002 in its Intelligence and Operations functions. She has been the Director of Operations for the South since April 2022 and has a dual role as Service Director for Assessment, overseeing the development and implementation of assessment process for Single Assessment Framework.
Jacqui Ritchie
Jacqui Ritchie’s Bio
Jacqui is a Registered Nurse and qualified lecturer with extensive experience in both the NHS and Private Healthcare sectors, holding senior positions including Director of Nursing and Hospital Executive Director, before moving into Social Care. Joining the Four Seasons Health Care Group in 2017 as Head of Care Improvement and then progressing to Managing Director, Jacqui was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in 2023.
Since taking on this role, she has overseen a programme to better develop and support the care home teams in a number of areas, including enhanced communication, investment in learning & development opportunities and systems and improved team recognition, benefits and wellbeing. This programme has led to extensive improvements in the Group’s trading and care quality performance in a short period of time. Jacqui is highly motivated to deliver excellent care for all and achieve growth on every key metric. She spends much of her time with the dedicated care home team members, taking every opportunity to coach, motivate, and inspire them to achieve their potential.
Leah Cooke
Leah Cooke’s Bio
Leah Cooke is a registered nurse with over 22 years’ experience in the health and social care sector. Leah has worked in leadership roles within residential care from deputy manager through to regional operations and has experience of working with CQC as a specialist advisor, and taking on other focussed clinical roles that include care specialist and nurse development manager. Leah has been writing policies, procedures and best practice documents for the last 6 years for Residential, Care home and supported living/Learning Disability services. Her most current experience includes product development, ensuring digital solutions are fit for purpose and applicable for the Social Care Sector as well as in her consultancy capacity providing turnaround services for struggling providers as well as undertaking mock inspections and quality audits.
Matthew Bond
Matthew Bond’s Bio
Matthew is the CEO & Co-Founder of Borderless, a UK based technology platform revolutionising hiring and sponsorship in the Healthcare sector. Our mission is to help care providers solve staffing challenges by simplifying the international hiring and sponsorship process.
Matthew co-founded Borderless together with Jonathan in December 2022, during their time on Entrepreneur First, Europe’s leading startup accelerator program. That’s when they became acutely aware of the many issues the sector had with hiring, as well as the fraught process of bringing in staff from overseas – specifically the potential for third party abuse. After learning about the extortionate costs charged to employers and candidates, they started Borderless to provide a better, more ethical solution to international hiring.
Prior to this, Matthew spent worked in California and London in the technology industry, and across various entrepreneurial endeavours!
Michelle Corrigan
Michelle Corrigan’s Bio
Michelle Corrigan is the Programme Director at Digital Care Hub with responsibility for Better Security, Better Care – the multi award winning, national programme funded by DHSC, supporting all CQC registered adult social care providers in England to improve their data and cyber security. Michelle has spent 15 years in and alongside the social care sector and has an MSc in International Public Health. With a dynamic career blending digital transformation, service improvement and innovation in health and social care. Prior to joining the Digital Care Hub she was the Deputy Director of Service and Innovation at Family Action
Shirley Way
Shirley Way’s Bio
Shirley Way is Head of Area for the Midlands Region and has worked at Skills for Care for 7 years following a varied career within the social care sector. Shirley started volunteering as a teenager and took opportunities to develop. Her roles included managing a young people’s service and a Local Authority Care Market Development Team.
Skills for Care’s role is to work across the whole system to understand the key drivers of workforce change using insight, data and evidence. It provides managers and those involved in the delivery of social care with guidance on best practice, tools, resources and intelligence to support workforce recruitment, capabilities, and culture. This combination of strategic and operational activity is the cornerstone of their reach and insight into the sector.
Shirley collaborates with a wide range of employers and stakeholders to influence change and improvements within the adult social care sector in the Midlands.
Keiron Broadbent
Kieron Broadbent’s Bio
Keiron has been with the Care Association for over five years and assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer two years ago. In that time, he has championed the Care Associations support of digital initiatives supporting care providers. He is actively involved with the Care Association Alliance which promotes our members nationally with government and chairs various adult social care initiatives in the local area.
Lauren Di Pietro
Lauren Di Pietro’s Bio
Lauren, an architect specializing in health and care, focuses on crafting inclusive spaces and eliminating physical barriers in the built environment. With a decade of experience, she has devoted herself to comprehending how design influences memory, cognition, and brain health. Lauren is recognized for her captivating presentations on designing for dementia and creating inclusive environments. Alongside her speaking commitments, she serves as a Trustee for CAMEO Day Care Centre, a Surrey-based charity offering dementia-related activities and respite care. In her free time, Lauren volunteers with organizations such as the Alzheimer’s Society, Age UK York, Bradford Mencap, and RNIB, actively raising dementia awareness in the community.