Alison Bunce
Alison is a Senior Palliative Care Nurse who worked for nearly 10 years as Director of Care at Ardgowan Hospice.
Today, as a Queen’s Nurse, Alison is the founder, leader and guiding force of Compassionate Inverclyde, supported by Ardgowan Hospice and Inverclyde HSCP.
She has combined her MSc in Palliative Care and an MBA with her community nursing experiences to inspire and coordinate an extraordinary set of community activities, supporting those most in need. It is a positive, pragmatic way of inspiring and mobilising people’s energy, better nature and willingness to help.
Anna Hartley
Anna is Director of Public Health for Wakefield District where she’s worked in the council for the last 10 years, with five years in her current role. She also leads the council’s participation programme ‘The Big Conversation’, which involves residents in decision making.
Before training in public health, Anna worked in a multi-purpose community centre and then worked for the NHS in Leeds as the link between the local authority, the VCS and the NHS.
During her public heath consultant training she worked in West Yorkshire Police at a strategic level to address the needs of vulnerable adults in the criminal justice system. She has a national and regional lead role for the Association of Directors of Public Health on the health of asylum seekers and refugees, and is the lead DPH for West Yorkshire ICB on inclusion health. She has been the lead DPH on the Minding the Gap programme for many years, which supports elected members and other staff to reduce health inequalities.
She lives in Leeds with her husband, three kids and a dog and is a slow runner, obsessive reader and an enthusiastic cook.
Bhavna Maher
Bhavna became a social worker after first working for Leicester City Council in an adult mental health day centre. This started her love for social work and she decided to go to De Montfort University to study it.
After several years working in an intermediate care team, overseeing discharges from A and E, she was asked to work with people living on the streets.
Working alongside the police, health services, council housing services, neighbourhood teams, and substance abuse organisations, Bhavna helps homeless people in the city navigate the system to help them get the support they need.
After initially thinking she was “too old” for such work, she is enjoying the challenges and putting into practice her motto to never give up.
David Brindle
David is a leading social care commentator and former public services editor of The Guardian, where he won a number of awards for his journalism on health and social care and the voluntary sector.
He is a regular conference chair and speaker. He has been a board member of several non-profit organisations and since 2020 has been chair of Ambient Support, a charity which provides services for older people and those with learning disabilities and autism and with mental health issues.
He is greatly encouraged by the recent revival in the fortunes of Coventry City Football Club.
Selan Lee
Selan is a final-year undergraduate psychology student passionate about improving care and raising the voices of chronically ill people following her diagnosis of Crohn’s disease at 18.
She aspires to become a health psychologist from her experiences with the healthcare system and the challenges of living with an invisible chronic illness. She hopes to make the life transitions following diagnosis more manageable and informed.
She was previously part of Kaleidoscope as a Perspectives intern lending her skills and lived patient experience to the organisation. As part of this internship, she developed and hosted a public art exhibition celebrating chronic illness and identity.
Outside of her studies, Selan volunteers as an inaugural Young Adult Advisory Panel member at Crohn’s and Colitis UK.
Thijs de Blok
Thijs is Director and CEO of Buurtzorg International, the advisory and licensor entity representing the Dutch community care organisation Buurtzorg Nederland globally.
He joined Buurtzorg in 2017 after a career in the hospitality industry in various countries around the world. He is a frequent public speaker on healthcare and organisational change, and with Buurtzorg International he is committed to helping other organisations to do things the Buurtzorg way.
Thijs lived in South Korea and Japan for several years to promote and support Buurtzorg partners and projects in the region.
He currently lives in the Netherlands and France with his wife and two dogs, and enjoys road cycling, cooking and travelling.
Victor Montori
Victor M. Montori, MD is the Robert H. and Susan M. Rewoldt Professor of Medicine at Mayo Clinic. An endocrinologist, health services researcher, and care activist, Dr. Montori is the author of more than 750 peer-reviewed publications and is among the most cited researchers in clinical medicine and in social science.
He is a recognised expert in evidence-based medicine, shared decision making, and minimally disruptive medicine. He works in Rochester, Minnesota, at Mayo Clinic’s KER Unit, to advance person-centered care for patients with diabetes and other chronic conditions.
He is the author of the book Why We Revolt, and is leading a movement, a Patient Revolution, for Careful and Kind Care for all.
Zoey Robson
Zoey has spent her whole career in estates and facilities within healthcare, particularly focused on delivery of ‘soft’ facilities management services. These are specifically the elements managed by people, such as cleaning and security, rather than hardware such as plumbing and air conditioning. Having worked at all levels within estates and facilities and as a manager, she is passionate that all staff should have operational experience.
Zoey started out at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup as a food service assistant, before being promoted to a supervisor and subsequently a manager. From there she moved to Darenth Valley Hospital as a catering manager, and expanded that role to include portering, waste and domestic services. This led to management roles both at Lewisham and Greenwich Trust and Barking, Havering and Redbridge Trust for Interserve and Mitie respectively.
In 2021 she moved from working for service providers to working directly for Barking Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust as their Soft FM contract manager. Working as both the customer and contractor in the industry has allowed her to see issues from both sides.
Zoey enjoys her role as no two days are ever the same and there are always new challenges that keep her motivated. By working in acute hospitals she wants to have a positive impact on the experience of staff and, most importantly, patients.