Conference

From policy to practice: driving staff experience for a thriving NHS

Name: From policy to practice: driving staff experience for a thriving NHS
Start: 2026-11-17

Join us on 17 November 2026 for our annual staff experience in the NHS conference focused on creating better workplaces for NHS staff.

Book your free place

General information

Time: 17 November 2026 08:00 GMT
Add to calendar: Google iCal
Audience: Open to all

Speakers

Ben Morrin
Chief Executive, NHS Employers
Owen Chinembiri
Assistant Director for Workforce, NHS Race and Health Observatory
Nicola Bullen
Associate Director of Occupational Health and Wellbeing, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and Director, Occupational Health Liaison, iOH – The Association of Occupational Health and Wellbeing Professionals
Shalini Daryanani
Organisational Development Practitioner, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
Dr Ronke Akerele
National Director of Staff Experience and Engagement, NHS England
Dr Carly Telford
Assistant Director, Do OD, NHS Employers
Michela Takyie
Senior Programme Officer, Staff Experience, NHS Employers
Anna Di Lorenzo
Senior OD Consultant, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
Rebecca Smith
Director of Staff Experience and Social Partnerships NHS Employers
Matt Hall
Associate Director of Health, Safety and Working Environment, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
Audrey Zannese
Certified Sophrologist and Education Director, The Sophrology Academy
Alan Lofthouse
Deputy Head of Health, UNISON
Victoria Blampied
Head of Employee Experience and Wellbeing, Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust
Hui Hai
Senior Programme Officer, NHS Staff Standards, NHS Employers
Jennifer Gardner
Assistant Director, Staff Experience and Social Partnerships NHS Employers
Dr Magda Zasada
Lecturer in Workforce, Organisation and Wellbeing, University of Surrey and co-applicant, CARES-Well
Professor Jill Maben
Professor of Health Services Research and Nursing, University of Surrey and Co-leader, CARES-Well
Dr Richard Duggins
Consultant Psychiatrist, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist and Associate Medical Director for Leadership and Culture, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust
Andrew Clements
Programme Manager, Embedding Organisational Development into Staff Experience, NHS Employers
Steven Weeks
Head of Staff Experience and Social Partnerships, NHS Employers
Sarah Patten
Staff Experience Programme Manager, NHS Employers
Professor Jeremy Dawson
Professor of Health Management, University of Sheffield
Mel Schneider
Senior Programme Officer, NHS Employers.
Marco Aurelio
Associate Director of Quality Improvement, East London NHS Foundation Trust
Dr Sarah McAllister
Head of Improvement Programmes, East London NHS Foundation Trust

Taking place on 17 November, our virtual conference will bring together professionals working in health and wellbeing, staff experience and staff engagement. Through panel discussions, breakout sessions, keynote speeches and case studies, we will explore how organisations can create the conditions for staff and services to thrive.

Book your free place to hear from expert speakers as they share practical learning, innovative approaches and real-world insights that can support healthier workplaces, stronger cultures and more sustainable workforce outcomes.

You will have the opportunity to explore a range of topics, including:

Turning national policy into local action — applying the NHS Staff Standards and workforce priorities to drive meaningful and sustainable improvements.

Creating the conditions for wellbeing — understanding how leadership, work design, governance and organisational culture shape staff wellbeing and performance.

Innovative approaches to staff experience — exploring staff feedback mechanisms, workforce health insights, AI tools and racial inequalities.

Practical lessons from NHS organisations — supporting line managers, reducing sickness absence, preventing violence and creating healthier, more inclusive workplaces.

You will have to the opportunity to:

join subject experts for mainstage keynotes and interactive breakout sessions with space for discussion and Q&A

spend time with those leading and innovative NHS organisations who are demonstrating good practice with practical tools, insights and strategies to strengthen local implementation

learn from staff experience professionals, network with others, and leave feeling inspired, energised and connected.

Why attend

Positive staff experience is central to high‑quality care, retention, organisational culture and staff wellbeing. This conference helps you turn insight into action, offering practical tools, real‑world examples and space to reflect on what works. It is a chance to step back, learn from others and build confidence in shaping a better staff experience in your organisation.

Agenda

Hear from NHS trusts that are using staff experience data to improve staff and patient experience and outcomes. Through practical case studies, speakers will share how staff feedback and workforce insights have informed decision making, supported improvement initiatives, and delivered measurable impact. Attendees will leave with practical ideas for turning staff experience data into action within their organisations.
Lucinda Phillips, Associate, IQVIA
Steven Weeks, Head of Staff Experience and Social Partnerships, NHS Employers
We will start the day with an overview of the conference's key themes and objectives and explore why staff experience is fundamental to creating healthy, inclusive and high-performing workplaces. You'll hear what to expect from the programme and discover opportunities to learn from others, share ideas, and build new connections.
Ben Morrin, Chief Executive, NHS Employers
Jen Gardner, Assistant Director of Staff Experience and Social Partnerships, NHS Employers
The NHS has a wide range of national workforce policies. This session will help you navigate the policy landscape and understand what it means for your role. From NHS Staff Standards and the equality agenda to reducing sickness absence and Staff Treatment Hubs, explore how national policy should inform local practice. You'll also have the opportunity to put forward questions to senior national leaders during an interactive panel discussion.
Ronke Akerele, National Director Staff Experience, NHS England
Louisa Elias-Evans, Deputy Director of Workforce, DHSC
Rebecca Smith, Director of Systems and Social Partnerships, NHS Employers
In this interactive session, you’ll gain real‑world insight into how trusts are applying the NHS Staff Standards at a local level. Through shared learning, case studies, and guided discussion explore practical opportunities and challenges and identify how you can use the staff standards as a catalyst for change within your organisation.
Jane Keep, Head of Staff Experience, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Sally Hockey, Organisational Development Lead, Sheffield Health Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust
Steven Weeks, Head of Staff Experience and Social Partnerships, NHS Employers
Hui Hai, Senior Programme Officer - Staff Standards, NHS Employers
Breakout 1 - CARES-Well: an evidence-based approach to improving staff wellbeing
Staff wellbeing is not the result of standalone interventions. It is shaped by how work is designed, organised, and experienced.
This session will share findings from CARES-Well (Collaborative Action for Research-Engaging in Staff Wellbeing), a five-year national research partnership involving five universities and 29 NHS organisations. The programme aims to drive organisational change that improves culture, staff experience and wellbeing, helping to improve retention, reduce sickness absence, and support staff to thrive.
The session will also provide an overview of the programme and insights from phase 1, including the experiences of seldom-heard staff groups. You will gain practical insights into how health and wellbeing data can inform improvement and how staff feedback can help organisations better understand wellbeing and drive meaningful change.
Professor Jill Maben, Professor of Health Services Research and Nursing, University of Surrey and Co-leader, CARES-Well
Professor Jeremy Dawson, Professor of Health Management, University of Sheffield
Dr Magda Zasada, Lecturer in Workforce, Organisation and Wellbeing, University of Surrey and Co-applicant, CARES-Well
Professor Cath Taylor, Professor of Healthcare Workforce, Organisation and Wellbeing
Sarah Patten, Staff Experience Programme Manager, NHS Employers

Breakout 2 - From Values to Impact: enabling managers to shape culture
Guy’s and St Thomas’s organisational development team will share their work with line managers to improve staff experience and turn organisational values into everyday behaviours. Explore how the conversations managers have every day can make a real difference by building trust, compassion and psychological safety, and creating a more inclusive workplace culture.
Dr Carly Telford, Assistant Director - OD, NHS Employers
Anna Dilorenzo, Senior Organisational Development Consultant, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
Shalini Daryanani, Organisational Development Practitioner, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
Dr Andrew Clements, Programme Manager ‑ Embedding OD principles into Staff Experience, NHS Employers

Breakout 3 - Tackling violence in the NHS
Violence against staff remains a significant challenge in the NHS and is a focus of one of the NHS Staff Standards. This session will explore the work being led by NHS Employers, NHS trade unions, NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care through the national Social Partnership Forum to prevent and reduce violence.
You will hear good practice from East London NHS Foundation Trust on reducing violence in mental health inpatient settings, and discover useful resources, including the Post-Incident Support Framework, produced by the Health Safety Wellbeing Group of the Staff Council. The session will also provide an update on next steps and national priorities for tackling this important issue.
Rebecca Smith, Director of Systems and Social Partnerships, NHS Employers
Alan Lofthouse, Deputy Head of Health, UNISON
Matt Hall, Associate Director of Health, Safety and Working Environment, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
Marco Aurelio, Associate Director of Quality Improvement, East London NHS Foundation Trust
Dr Sarah McAllister, Head of Improvement Programmes, East London NHS Foundation Trust
Take time to pause, reset and recharge in this interactive energiser session. Audrey Zannese will introduce three practical techniques using movement, breathwork, and guided imagery to help reduce stress, release tension, and improve focus. You'll leave with simple, accessible tools that can be used throughout the working day to support wellbeing and resilience.
Audrey Zannese, PhD, Founder, Step into Sophrology
Hui Hai, Senior Programme Offier - Staff Standards, NHS Employers
Breakout 1 - New approaches to improve staff experience
Staff feedback is central to improving staff experience, and trusts are exploring more meaningful ways of listening to their people. This session shares practical lessons from trusts using innovative approaches, including staff experience champions and deeper analysis of NHS Staff Survey free‑text comments, to understand what staff are saying and act on it. You’ll hear real examples of what’s working, what’s changing, and what these approaches are revealing about staff experience. There will also be space to share your own insights, connect with colleagues facing similar challenges, and shape thinking on future models of staff feedback across the NHS.
Victoria Blampied, Head of Staff Experience, Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust
Steven Weeks, Head of Staff Experience and Social Partnerships, NHS Employers

Breakout 2 - When the problem isn't the person: rethinking workforce health, absence and prevention
Sickness absence, poor health, and loss of workforce capacity are not simply individual issues to be managed - they can be indicators of organisational health, culture, and system pressure. This session explores how occupational health and wellbeing can move further upstream, using workforce health patterns as organisational intelligence to identify risk earlier and influence the design of healthier work. Learn how leaders can shift from reactive support to proactive action that creates the conditions for staff wellbeing and sustainable performance.
Nicola Bullen, Associate Director of Occupational Health and Wellbeing, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust; and Director and Occupational Health Liaison, iOH – The Association of Occupational Health and Wellbeing Professionals
Mel Schneider, Senior Programme Officer - Social Partnerships and Staff Experience, NHS Employers
This session will explore practical action to tackle racial inequalities in staff experience. Speakers will share the seven anti-racism principles and showcase a real example of how an NHS trust is addressing racial inequalities through local action. You will gain practical insights into identifying inequalities, embedding anti-racist practice, and creating more inclusive workplaces that foster a fairer and healthier staff experience for all.
Sarah Akhtar, Head of Equity, Staff Experience and Culture, London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust
Owen Chinembiri, Workforce Assistant Director, the NHS Race and Health Observatory
Caroline Hartley, Head of Staff Experience, Bristol NHS Foundation Trust
Michela Takyie, Senior Programme Officer - Staff Experience, NHS Employers
Staff experience work is deeply meaningful but it can also carry an emotional load. As we look ahead to the future of staff experience, this closing session offers an opportunity to reflect on the impact of supporting others, the challenges we cannot always solve, and how we sustain perspective, purpose and hope. Together, we'll explore what it takes to create the conditions for both staff and staff experience leaders to thrive.
Dr Richard Duggins, Consultant Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist and Associate Medical Director, Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust
Jen Gardner, Assistant Director of Staff Experience and Social Partnerships, NHS Employers
Sarah Patten, Staff Experience Programme Manager, NHS Employres
We will close the conference by reflecting on the key themes, insights, and practical learning from across the day. This session will invite you to consider what you will take back to your organisation, identify one action you can put into practice, and look ahead to how we can continue working together to create the conditions for a thriving NHS workforce.
Jen Gardner, Assistant Director of Staff Experience and Social Partnerships, NHS Employers

Who should attend

This event is designed for NHS professionals working in or supporting:

Staff experience

Staff engagement

Health and wellbeing

Organisational development

Equality, diversity and inclusion

Accessibility

We are committed to hosting an inclusive and accessible event that enables everyone to attend and engage fully. Please get in touch if you have any additional requirements before attending by emailing us at staffexperience@nhsemployers.org.

Book your free place today.

From policy to practice: driving staff experience for a thriving NHS

General information

Speakers

You will have to the opportunity to:

Why attend

Agenda

Who should attend

Accessibility

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