Taking place this week at the ICC in Birmingham from Tuesday 3 - Thursday 5 November, NHS Employers’ annual conference and exhibition 2009 is a key highlight for senior workforce and human resource professionals in the health service.
Leading workforce thinking 2009 began this afternoon, with over 1400 delegates, exhibitors and speakers on site for three days of learning and information sharing.
Click on a speaker name to read a summary of their speech.
Sian Thomas, NHS Employers Director, kicked off the day with an enthusiastic welcome and introduction to the conference before Clare Chapman, Director General of Workforce took to the stage. Clare told the audience - we are just gripping the importance of leadership in the NHS and this is the next big breakthrough for healthcare.
This afternoon delegates heard Heather Rabbatts, speak passionately about the art of leadership and the need for a narrative that all stakeholders can understand as she shared her experiences from working as CEO of Merton and Lambeth Council and her current role as Chair of Millwall Football Club.
Mike O'Brien, Minister of State for Health Services joined the conference for the last plenary of the day where shared his views and also launched the NHS Staff Passport, published by the Social Partnership Forum on 3 November at the conference. Find out more about the NHS Staff Passport on the Social Partnership Forum website.
The conference came to a close with an energetic and exciting performance from Diversity, the winners of Britains Got Talent. Diversity are supporters of Backing Young Britain, the campaign which aims to invest in the talent of Britain’s young people to ensure that their skills and experience are not being wasted during the economic downturn.
Later on in the evening delegates had the chance to join Clare Chapman, Director General of Workforce, at the networking dinner where they got to hear from and talk to Clare about the workforce agenda facing the NHS, as well as share experiences with other attendees. Clare focussed her discussion on 'wellbeing' and covered in detail, some of the issues mentioned in her speech earlier in the day.