Workshops 2026
We are pleased to welcome a wide range of speakers to the CHA National Conference 2026. Some colleagues are returning to share new learning, while others are joining us for the first time. Together they bring practical experience, insight and examples from community hospitals and wider community services.
This year’s workshops reflect our theme Community Hospitals: Integrating Care, Building Capacity. Sessions explore how community hospitals strengthen local systems, support person centred care and develop new ways of working with partners across health and care. We are also including contributions from our Special Interest Group in Q, which has met across the year and to share learning from best practice approaches.
For CHA National Conference 2026 Tickets - Book your place here
Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
The conference provides a strong CPD opportunity for staff working in community hospitals and community based services. Across the two days, delegates can attend up to six workshops, each offering practical learning and space for reflection. Attendance can support:
• NMC revalidation
• HCPC CPD requirements
• medical and AHP portfolios
• nursing and clinical support worker development
• wider professional and leadership development
On booking delegates can opt in to receive a CPD certificate through Certifier, which can be used as evidence for revalidation or professional portfolios. Certificates will be issued after the event.
Supporting CPD - CHA National Conference 2026
How the Workshops Run
Workshops take place across three sessions:
• Thursday 7th May 2026 morning
• Thursday 7th May 2026 afternoon
• Friday 8th May 2026 morning
Each workshop is delivered twice to give you as much choice as possible. You can attend one workshop per time slot, with a total of six workshops across the conference. Places are limited and we will do our best to allocate your preferred choices.
Workshop options – Thursday 7th May (morning)A. Community frailty: same day emergency care in community hospitals – a GP-led approach with the multi-disciplinary team
Speakers: Dr Liam Healy, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, and Tendai Mugariri, Clinical Lead and Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Witney Emergency Multidisciplinary Unit
This session introduces a community-based same day emergency care unit operating within a community hospital setting, designed to support acutely unwell and frail patients as an alternative to acute hospital admission. The unit brings together a multidisciplinary team of GPs, advanced nurse practitioners, nurses, occupational therapists and physiotherapists to deliver care closer to home. Through two or three real patient journeys, delegates will explore how the team provides community-focused care for acutely unwell patients, how the unit works alongside community hospital inpatient wards, and how it integrates with primary care and urgent community services including hospital at home.
This session directly addresses the conference theme of integrating care and building capacity. The model demonstrates how community hospitals can relieve pressure on acute services while delivering safe, effective care in a setting that is closer to patients and better suited to their needs. It also reflects the direction of travel in the NHS 10-year plan, with its emphasis on care closer to home and stronger community infrastructure. Delegates will leave with a practical understanding of how this innovative model works, what makes it effective, and how it might inform service development in their own settings.
Dr Liam Healy, MRCGP, PGdip (geriatric medicine)
Dr Liam Healy is a GP with an extended role in frailty. He completed GP training in 2021 and over the last three years he has worked in frailty focused same day emergency care units attached to two community hospitals in Oxfordshire. His role also includes providing clinical advice to the Oxfordshire Urgent Community Response home visiting team. He has experience in leading quality improvement and teaching programmes to develop services in community urgent care. He completed the Royal College of Physicians postgraduate diploma in geriatric medicine in 2025.
Tendai Mugariri
Tendai Mugariri is a Registered Adult Nurse with 18 years post-registration experience across acute and community settings. She has supported the Intensive Community Care (ICC) pathway in her role as Clinical Lead for the last seven years. Alongside her leadership role, Tendai has practised as an Advanced Nurse Practitioner since 2018 and completed her master’s in Advanced Clinical. Tendai is genuinely passionate about acute hospital avoidance and supporting patients, particularly the elderly and frail, to remain safely in their own homes wherever possible. She is immensely proud of her dedicated team and their shared commitment to high‑quality, patient‑centred care.
B. From hospital to progressive hub – supporting communities now and into the future
Speaker: Marc Jobson, Head of Seachange, Budleigh Salterton
This session explores the development of Seachange Devon, a health and wellbeing hub operating from the site of a former community hospital in Budleigh Salterton. Led by Marc Jobson, the workshop will share how Seachange supports local communities through a wide range of preventive services, including social groups, transport and support for people with long-term conditions. With more than 8,000 visits each month, the hub plays a key role in tackling loneliness, promoting independence and reducing pressure on NHS services. The session will reflect on what it takes to build capacity locally, work across organisational boundaries and develop sustainable, community-led models of care. Local Community Support - Seachange
Marc Jobson, Seachange
Marc began his public service career with a law degree and then joined the Police in 1996, where he spent 20 years specialising in response policing and custody. His frontline experience gave him insight into the everyday challenges people face and a lasting drive to support others. In 2017, Marc took on the role of managing Budleigh Hospital’s health and wellbeing hub. In 2022, he led its transformation into the charity Seachange, which he now heads.
C. Innovation in healthcare support worker Band 3 preceptorship and development programme
Speaker: Lucy Somerville, Clinical Learning Lead- HCSW Workstream, Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust, and 2024 CHA Innovation and Best Practice Award Winner
This session presents insights from a six-month Healthcare Support Worker Band 3 Preceptorship Programme, developed to address a gap in post-induction development. Co-designed with staff, the programme integrates study days, reflective learning, wellbeing support, and a culminating quality improvement project. Recognised with a Community Hospitals Association Innovation and Best Practice Award in 2024, participants report increased confidence, enhanced skills, and a stronger professional identity. Many progress to further training, while others remain in their roles with renewed motivation. The session highlights how targeted investment in support workers can strengthen retention, build capacity in services, and improve patient care, offering a practical and transferable model for community hospitals and hubs for delegates to explore implementation in their own clinical teams and services.
Lucy Somerville, PGCert, QN, PNA, HEA Fellow, RN
Lucy Somerville is the Clinical Learning Lead for the Healthcare Support Worker Workstream within the Clinical Education and Development Team at Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust. Qualifying in 1999, she has worked across Surrey and Sussex in acute and community settings, developing a strong commitment to high-quality community care and staff development. In 2023 Lucy received a special commendation from NHS England for Widening Access and Supporting Diversity, recognising a project with the University of Chichester supporting the refugee community into NHS roles.
Her current role oversees healthcare support worker learning, providing standardised induction and development programmes across the Trust. She has received two CHA Innovation and Best Practice Awards for developing a two-week induction programme in 2023 and implementing the Band 3 Healthcare Support Worker Preceptorship Programme in 2024, work that has strengthened leadership, professional identity and patient safety while reducing attrition.
D. Collaborative AP practice in community assessment and treatment unit
Speaker: Adrian Strain, Advanced Practitioner, Clinical Assessment and Treatment Unit (CATU), Tewkesbury Community Hospital, Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust.
The Community Assessment and Treatment was launched 4 years ago. The aim is to stop or quickly turn around patients presenting at the Acute Trust ‘front door’. This required employing Advanced Practitioners 7 days a week to enable patients to be assessed and clerked on admission. This has built greater capacity into the system in Gloucestershire. LOS of stay has improved for these patients as a MDT approach from admission is taken. The community hospital is GP led and this working relationship has been invaluable for the medical support required for this cohort of patients
Adrian Strain
Adrian qualified in 2000 as a registered nurse having previously worked as an area manager for Granada TV rentals. His acute experience was in Birmingham as a Coronary Care Nurse. In 2004 Adrian joined the Gloucestershire Heart Failure Service as a Clinical Nurse Specialist in heart failure. In 2014, his Trust launched a Rapid Response Service, and he saw the first patient for them and helped establish and develop this service. In 2022 the Community Assessment and Treatment Unit was opened. This has demonstrated how to admit sub-acutely unwell patients in to a community hospital setting achieving lower lengths of stay and excellent collaborative working.
E. Improving healthcare by working in partnership with the NHS - contribution, impact and lessons learnt by the Friends of Wimborne Hospital.
Speakers: Dr David Pope, President, and Mrs Anne Salter, Chair of the Friends of Wimborne Hospital
This workshop will provide background information about hospital developments the Friends have funded over the years, and the impact these have made. In addition, the key strategic objectives which have driven progress will be outlined. These include: Capital Developments, Workforce Support, Volunteering, Partnership working, Finance and Risk. Finally future ambitions will be shared. There will be an opportunity to ask questions and to share ideas.
Dr David Pope
Dr Pope has been a Trustee of the Friends since arriving in Wimborne in 1974 as a GP and Surgeon. He was Clinical Director at the Hospital for 25 years, retiring in 2025. He is a former member of the CHA. As current President and Trustee of the Friends of Wimborne Hospital, he considers that he has been privileged to be involved in the many development projects the Friends have delivered over this time, making Wimborne Hospital one of the leading Community Hospitals in the UK.
Mrs Anne Salter
Anne Salter worked in the NHS as a nurse, health visitor and commissioner of health services. She worked in a joint role across the NHS and Local Authority as Assistant Director of Children's Services, and also in Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group as Head of Children's Services. She became a Trustee of the Friends after retirement and became Chair in 2021.
www.friendswimbornehospital.org.uk
F. Improving nutrition in older people after acute hospital admission – transition from secondary care to intermediate care, rehabilitation, community and home
Speaker: Ines de Abreu, Advanced Clinical Practitioner, ICU Uckfield and Crowborough, Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust, and CHA Committee Member
Ines de Abreu
Ines has spent over thirty years working across a wide range of clinical settings, from emergency medicine and HIV services to neurosciences and community care, in several countries and healthcare systems. She now works in Intermediate Care, supporting older adults to recover and return home safely after serious illness, injury or trauma. Her clinical focus is on frailty, dementia, delirium and neurodegeneration, and on the services that make the difference between someone managing at home or ending up back in hospital.
She has built services from the ground up, including Virtual Wards, Urgent Community Response teams and a Neuro-Rehabilitation Unit, and has led quality improvement and research work throughout her career. Her current research interest is the role of nutrition in recovery for people living with frailty, an under-explored area with significant potential to improve both outcomes and quality of life. Ines joined the CHA committee in 2025, adding a valuable frontline clinical perspective to the group's collective expertise
Workshop options – Thursday 7th May (afternoon)G. Preventing and managing frailty: everyone’s business
Speaker: Professor Anne Hendry, Director, IFICs Hub in Scotland; Honorary Professor, University of the West of Scotland
This session will explore the important contribution of community hospital teams to preventing and managing frailty. Workshop participants will consider the seven evidence-based touchpoints for effective integrated care for frailty as described in the Joining the Dots Blueprint published by the British Geriatrics Society in 2023. Delegates will consider where community hospitals can add value for older persons with frailty, and their carers, within the health and care ecosystem. Participants will be able to share and take back examples of practice at each of the seven touchpoints.
Professor Anne Hendry
Anne is a Senior Associate with the International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC), the Director of IFICs Country Hub in Scotland and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Integrated Care. From 2007 to 2016 she held national clinical lead roles in Scotland for policy and improvement programmes on:
• Long Term Conditions
• Healthcare Quality
• Reshaping Care for Older People
• Integrated health and social care.
This experience developed her passion for cross sector collaboration and skills in implementing and evaluating transformational change in diverse health and care systems. A geriatrician and stroke physician she was honorary secretary of the British Geriatrics Society, holds honorary academic posts with the University of the West of Scotland and NHS Lanarkshire, and is a trustee director of Kilbryde Hospice and Compassionate Inverclyde.
Read about Anne's role and work at IFIC Scotland Hub here
H. NACEL: national audit data and community hospitals
Speakers: Dr Mary Miller, Consultant in Palliative Medicine and Clinical Lead for the National Audit of Care at the End of Life (NACEL), and Joylin Brockett, Senior Project Manager, NHS Benchmarking
This session will demonstrate how to access and interpret NACEL results, with opportunities for discussion and questions throughout. We will explore how community hospitals perform on the delivery of care at the end of life, share reflections, and identify opportunities for improvement.
The session links to the conference theme by considering how capacity can be strengthened and care better integrated across systems, regardless of place of death, including learning from acute hospital providers. Delegates will leave with examples of good practice from other hospitals and increased confidence in using NACEL data and tools within their own teams.
Dr Mary Miller
Dr Mary Miller FRCP is a Consultant in Palliative Medicine at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Director of the Oxford Centre for Education and Research in Palliative Care (OxCERPC), and Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer in Palliative Medicine at the University of Oxford. She is the Clinical Lead for the National Audit of Care at the End of Life (NACEL), delivered through NHS Benchmarking. Mary trained in medicine at University College Cork and has worked in palliative medicine in Ireland, Sweden and the UK. Alongside her clinical practice, she has a long standing commitment to education and professional development, with a focus on supporting high quality end of life care.
Joylin Brockett
Joylin has been involved in numerous healthcare benchmarking projects at the Network, including projects for community physical health service providers, bespoke projects for ICBs and the National Audit of Care at the End of Life (NACEL). Her current role involves overseeing the delivery of NACEL, supporting data collection and reporting. The aim of the audit is to improve the quality of care at the end of life in hospitals across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
I. Integrated neighbourhood teams in Cornwall – wave 1 progress and lessons learnt
Speakers: Juliet Ferris, Place Director, West Integrated Care Area, NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly ICB, and Sue Greenwood MBE, Modern Matron, Camborne Redruth Community Hospitals
Details coming soon.
J. Think delirium
Speakers: Johanna Barnes, Advanced Practitioner, Clinical Assessment and Treatment Unit (CATU) and 2024 CHA Innovation and Best Practice Award Winner, and Lucinda Williams, Ward Sister and Dementia Lead, Tewkesbury Community Hospital
Delirium is common in community hospital settings, yet it is frequently missed and poorly understood. This session shares practical learning from a quality improvement project at Tewkesbury Community Hospital focused on improving how delirium is identified and managed in practice. Starting small, the team introduced routine screening using the 4AT tool to improve the patient journey, developed PINCH-ME care plans for patients at risk, and produced delirium information leaflets for patients and families. The project also led to a co-written organisational delirium guideline with clear action plans. Work has been shared through local forums & presented at NHS England South West's Urgent Response and Acute Deterioration Clinical Improvement Group on assessment, advance care planning and virtual wards.
Johanna and Lucinda will reflect on what has worked, the challenges of embedding change in a busy ward environment, and how a straightforward, structured approach can build staff confidence, improve communication with families and support safer discharge planning. Delegates will leave with practical ideas they can adapt within their own teams and a clearer sense of how to start small and scale up.
Jo Barnes
Jo Barnes qualified as a Registered Nurse (Adult) in 2001, and initially worked within fields of general surgery, medical admissions and respiratory. Jo entered the world of advanced practice in 2014 and has held various advanced roles spanning both primary and secondary care, including as a Rapid Response Practitioner (hospital at home) , ANP SDEC, ANP GP surgery and is currently an ACP within the Community Assessment and Treatment Unit (CATU) at Tewkesbury Community Hospital.
Jo has gradually developed and enhanced knowledge and skills and successfully completed a MSc in Advanced Clinical Practice early 2025 via UWE Apprenticeship route (sponsored by NHS England). Jo is family oriented (with a husband and two adult children) and most importantly is an avid traveller & trekker.
Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Williams started nursing in 2000 after working with people with learning disabilities and autism. She worked 12 years in acute settings before joining Tewkesbury Hospital as ward sister in 2015. Having completing her dementia lead course in 2023, she designed the dementia CARE tool, winning ‘Seeing Me’ category at the South West Integrated Personalised Care Awards NHS England. Lucinda is also part of the Tewkesbury and the Gloucester Dementia Action Alliance Group, has implemented My Life Tree on her ward at Tewkesbury, and takes patients to monthly 'Daytime Disco' events. Lucinda is passionate about person-centred care.
K. Dementia care in the community: the role of Admiral Nurses
Speakers: Rachel Johnstone, Nationwide Clinics Programme Lead, Dementia UK, and Heather Penwarden, Registered Mental Health Nurse, Cognitive Behaviour Therapist, and Chair of Dementia Friendly Honiton
Details coming soon.
L. Co-production in health and social care - Nothing about us without us
Speaker: Jan Marriott, Gloucestershire Partnership Boards Co-Chair and Katie Peacock, Co-Chair of the Physical Disability and Sensory Impairment Partnership Board, Gloucestershire.
This mantra came from people with learning disabilities and over time it has been more broadly captured in the term co-production. The session will explore the true meaning and value of co-production and the frequent tokenism and misuse of the term. Examples from Gloucestershire, including the co-produced Co-production Charter will be shared.
Discussion will be whatever the audience wish but perhaps
- Is co-production just another fad that will disappear?
- How can we use co-production in our practice to improve personalisation; decision-making; design, delivery and evaluation of our services
Jan Marriott
Jan Marriott is an Associate Committee Member of the CHA, having been involved with the Association for many years. A registered general nurse by background, she has a longstanding commitment to community hospitals and the personalised, locally rooted care they provide. Jan served as Matron at Evesham Community Hospital, where she led improvements in quality and integration of care through a culture of empowerment. She has held a range of director-level posts across the NHS, voluntary and private sectors.
Since retiring from the NHS, Jan has remained actively involved in health and care leadership. She currently serves as Independent Co-Chair of the Gloucestershire Learning Disability and Physical Disability and Sensory Impairment Partnership Boards, and as Independent Chair of the Gloucestershire Mental Health and Wellbeing Partnership Board. She is also Interim Chair of Gloucestershire MEAM (Making Every Adult Matter) and an Independent Supporter. Until recently Jan was a Non-Executive Director at Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, an organisation with seven community hospitals. She has also served as a District Councillor.
S. Move to Health: a practical toolkit for community hospitals. Funding pathways, safety and evaluation- plus a short guided session you can replicate
Speakers: Jane Castree, Dance Artist in Residence & Angela Conlan CMgr FCMI, Oxford Health Arts Partnership
Move to Health is an uplifting, evidence‑informed creative movement workshop designed specifically for community hospitals. This session offers simple, adaptable techniques for bringing gentle movement, rhythm and connection into everyday care. Drawing on lived practice from Oxford Health NHS FT's community hospital wards and community groups, this workshop shows how creative approaches can support recovery, enhance wellbeing, and energise both staff and patients. Participants will leave with practical tools they can implement immediately- no experience needed.
Angela Conlan
Angela is Arts Lead for the Oxford Health Arts Partnership (OHAP) and Public and Patient Involvement, Engagement and Participation Lead at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. She works across community hospitals, leading the development and delivery of creative health programmes that enhance patient and staff wellbeing. OHAP’s flagship initiative, Creating with Care, was recognised with the Community Hospitals Association Best Practice Award in 2020.
With a background in dance and arts for health, Angela has delivered participatory arts projects in acute and community hospitals, mental health wards, and care settings. She is committed to embedding creative, non-pharmacological interventions in dementia care and regularly contributes to training and research, including co-teaching the Oxford Brookes MSc module on non-pharmacological approaches for dementia.
Jane Castree and…
Jane is the Artistic Director of Jane Castree and... a collaborative dance company which works with movement to create open and accessible opportunities for performers, community members and audiences, that acknowledge and interrupt invisible structures of hierarchy within our culture. Her choreographic work invites people to consider alternative perspectives to imagine and create a more open and flexible world. Simultaneously, striving to support people in connecting to the innate sense of freedom and wellbeing that comes from moving. Jane's practice embraces the Universal Design approach.
Watch this wonderfully inspiring video of Jane at the Barton Community in Oxford.
Workshop options – Friday 8th May (morning)M. Strengthening the rural workforce – international nurses in Powys
Speakers: David Farnsworth, Assistant Director, Community Services Group, Powys Teaching Health Board
This session shares learning from Powys Teaching Health Board’s approach to strengthening the rural nursing workforce through international recruitment. Led by David Farnsworth, the workshop will explore how nurses have been recruited from overseas to address workforce gaps in community services, supported by Welsh Government funding and strong local operational leadership. The session will reflect on the importance of pastoral support, housing and structured training in helping nurses settle and succeed, with a focus on building long-term workforce stability and reducing reliance on agency staffing. The learning offers practical insights for other community hospital settings facing similar workforce challenges.
David Farnsworth
David is the CHA National Lead for Wales. He is a registered Nurse and has worked in the NHS for over 35 years. With a varied career, including Mental Health, Accident & Emergency and several leadership roles supporting improvement in quality & safety, David has spent the last 9 years working to operationally deliver community services, including a wide array of community hospitals. Currently working as the Assistant Director Community Services in Powys Teaching Health Board, David is keen to learn about the experiences of other members of the Community Hospital Association and is looking forward to supporting future development of these services
N. The CHART network – strengthening research and collaboration in community hospitals
Speaker: Dr Christine Burt, Director of Research and Innovation, Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Dr Christine Burt
Dr. Christine Burt is the Director of Research and Innovation at Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. She leads CHART (Community Healthcare Association of Research Trusts) a national alliance for conducting research in wider care settings. She has a strong background in community healthcare and research, including her role in the Community Connexions programme, which focuses on addressing health inequalities in Birmingham. Dr. Burt has also collaborated on various studies and projects aimed at improving healthcare delivery and patient engagement. She holds a PhD and has extensive experience in both academic and practical aspects of healthcare research and management.
Read about Community Connexions here and a recently published report on health inequalities by Aston University, Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (BCHC), and Citizens UK.
O. Delivering same day emergency care locally – a community hospital perspective
Speaker: Sue Greenwood MBE, Camborne Redruth Community Hospital
Details coming soon.
P. Cubii seated exercise project – increasing physical activity on inpatient units
Speakers: Ami Cook and Debbie Poulston, Physiotherapists, Paulton and Bath Community Hospitals, and 2024 CHA Innovation and Best Practice Award Winners
Physiotherapists Ami Cook and Debbie Poulston present their Cubii seated exercise project, a winner of the CHA Innovation and Best Practice Awards in 2024. The project highlights how a simple, low-cost intervention can make a meaningful difference to patient experience and outcomes in community hospitals. Portable seated exercise machines have been introduced across wards, supporting patients to remain active during their stay and helping to reduce physical deconditioning. The session will focus on what made the project successful, including implementation in busy ward settings, staff engagement and patient feedback, and will share learning on how small, practical innovations can support rehabilitation and everyday movement.
The session will also include an interactive element where delegates can observe and experience using a Cubii machine, demonstrating how it can build capacity as it only requires a few minutes to set up and can easily support an hour of unsupervised exercise. The presenters will share how patients often motivate each other during use, helping to embed movement into everyday ward culture. Delegates will leave with a practical model for implementing seated exercise equipment in busy ward environments.
Debbie Poulston
Debbie qualified in 2012 and since 2018, has worked for Virgin Care/HCRG Care Group. She currently works at Paulton Hospital on the complex elderly inpatient ward with Ami and the team. Most recently, they implemented the Cubii project for which they won the Community Hospitals Association Innovation and Best Practice Award in October 2024 for their poster entry.
Ami Cook
Ami qualified in 2021 & currently works at Paulton and St Martin’s Community Hospitals. Her current roles involves working with complex elderly inpatients, aiming to rehabilitate them to their baseline & avoid hospital-acquired deconditioning. Ami’s work aims to embed an active hospital approach to improve patients’ well-being, overall experience of hospital & their individual outcomes.
Q. Using the ReSPECT emergency care and treatment plan in a community hospital setting
Speakers: Lisa O’Hara, Nurse Consultant for Palliative and End of Life Care, and Christine Penhale, ReSPECT Lead, Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust
Details coming soon.
R. Healthy workforces and the role of Professional Nurse Advocates
Speaker: Julia Fairhall, Community Divisional Director of Nursing, Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust
Details coming soon.
T. Supporting Flow Across the System: Bed Based Intermediate Care in Community Hospitals
Speaker: Sarah Handby, Senior Project Manager - Member Programmes, NHS Benchmarking Network
Details coming soon.