Speakers and talks

Aaron Brown was the first person with Cystic Fibrosis to qualify and join the Royal College of Surgeons just two years after medical school, a self described perfectionist was never one to let a disability stop him on excelling in life. That was until 2018 when he was confronted with saying goodbye to his children as his condition led him to become gravely ill in intensive care. Faced with this new perspective Aaron shares a deeply personal reflection on being a good doctor but bad patient and how we must consider our own health to also help our patients.

Suicide is the biggest killer of young men in the UK and costs the NHS huge sums of money. In 2005 the London Playing Fields Foundation launched ‘Coping Through Football’, a programme which uses football as part of a holistic health solution to transform and enrich the lives of its service users, all of whom have been referred following diagnosis of a severe and enduring mental health condition. LPPF treats its service users like athletes. They play on a real pitch, with real kit and real coaches. Globally, Coping Through Football is the most evaluated programme linking sport to mental health.

Amal believes that music speaks a language beyond words and can connect with a diverse audience on a human level. He aims to use music to help connect people with their own feelings of health and to use it as a tool to improve physical and mental wellbeing. He uses his own heartbeat to make music because ‘if you have a heart, you’re making music’.

What does burying a Bentley have to do with healthcare? Join Amy Overend neonatal nurse specialist has she shares how one of the most harroying situations of how losing a premature baby helped her to comfort one of the last taboos: neonatal organ donation,. Through the parental strength of finding the light in the dark Amy shares how not letting someone tell you can’t stop you from being the catalyst for positive change.

We have enormous amounts of data in the health sector, but how are we using it to influence future health outcomes? Health Economist Andi Orlowski describes the ways in which we can translate headline grabbing figures into the tweaks in daily behaviours for individual citizens and patients. Understanding population health analytics enables the NHS to target its resources to address health inequalities to create the most significant impacts.

‘I knew I had to help’…Charlotte Kemp has used her expertise as a scientist to improve and enhance the efficacy of medical equipment such as oxygen masks which could be used to help newborn babies begin to breathe. Through collaboration between medical professionals, scientists and commercial partners, Charlotte and her colleagues have driven innovation.

In this powerful talk Chris Turner Consultant in emergency medicine aims to raise the awareness of how our behaviour impacts how we deliver healthcare. Sharing first hand experiences of how rudeness resulted in grave consequences for patients care, Chris invites us to consider how the way we treat people influences how we perform as a team and ultimately the care that patients receive. Through founding Civility Saves Lives Chris explore how process is important but people are key.

In his TEDxNHS talk Derek Prinsley shares his reflections of healthcare as a medic in the early days of the NHS. Some of these are unimaginable in our currently industry; the stealthy swapping of hospitals, and others remain unchanged; if you put up a bed, somebody will come lie in it.

Antimicrobial resistance is not a future fear, it is happening now, in the UK and abroad. In 2018 5000 deaths could be attributed to antibiotic resistant infections. Diane Ashiru-Oredope has developed The Antibiotic Guardian platform to tackle this through individual actions and pledges. Together we can all make a difference to safeguard this vital medication and our future health.

Hannah Barham-Brown is a GP, Women’s rights activist, charity ambassador, and writer. And she uses a wheelchair. In her TEDxNHS talk, Hannah describes the importance of the NHS workforce reflecting the population it serves and how her disability makes her an asset to the workforce and not a burden or a quota. Her call to actions is for her audience to champion diversity, and to be a ‘roll model’.

Sometimes small really is mighty. Hannah Burd describes how the most minor of adjustments to an unremarkable process can influence behaviour and saves lives.

Hello, I see you’ just four works to create a happier and healthy nation. Hannah Thornton shares her story of being confronted with feelings of isolation at university and how a chance meeting on a train lead her to go viral through harnessing the power of connection. Hannah gives insight into the UK being the loneliness capital of Europe and how she is determined to challenge this one connection at a time.

When was the last time you had the courage to question authority? Imran Sjaid draws on philosophy, ethics, psychology, behavioural economics, diagnostics and statistics in his talk as he invites us to not overestimate the benefits or underestimate the possible harm in healthcare. Do we collectively need to consider less medicine and more care?

Jackie is an NHS nurse with a side hustle as a volunteer in refugee camps in Northern France. After seeing the harrowing images in the media of young and desperate people washed up on European beaches Jackie followed her instincts to help and found herself giving basic first aid to refugees in what was then known as ‘the Jungle’.

When Michael Seres went into theatre to become the 11th person in the UK to receive a total bowel transplant, he knew that 5 of the 10 patients before him had not survived their transplant. Whilst thrilled to be recovering in a hospital bed, Michael noticed that his new ostomy bag was frequently leaking or overflowing. So he went online and learnt how to hack his health.

In the 1990s an HIV diagnosis was likely a death sentence. Today, this is not the case. If diagnosed early and treated appropriately, HIV positive people can live as fulfilled and long a life as anybody else. However despite this, there remains one important feature which has not yet been tackled. Stigma.

New Note are an award-winning charity project based in Brighton. They use music to help people who have faced addiction issues.

Naveed and Samiya share their inspiring journey of how their unconditional love for their disabled son Diamo lead them down the path of seeking a life changing solution to meet his additional needs.