2026 Autumn Meeting Programme

Frances Wiseman is Director of NHS England’s National Frailty Improvement Collaborative, working with places across England to improve care for people living with frailty.

Frances has extensive senior leadership experience, including director-level roles in operational delivery and national improvement and innovation programmes across health and care. She is a registered nurse and a Health Foundation (Generation Q) Fellow, and her current work centres on how leadership, improvement method, quality management and clinical and operational delivery come together to improve outcomes across whole health and care systems.

Andy is a GP, clinical chair of NAPC, a senior visiting fellow at The King’s Fund, a trustee of a hospice, holds non-executive positions at a an acute and a community provider, an advisor at McGill University for management and leadership, a qualified executive coach and is an honorary professor at the medical school, University of Surrey.
Andy worked as a senior policy adviser in the system transformation team at NHS England developing Integrated Care Systems. He has spent more than 25 years working in health care, with 10 years’ experience as a chief executive. Andy has achieved ‘outstanding’ ratings in a number of organisations. He has overseen the development of innovative solutions for neighbourhood care, and financial and governance arrangements between health care services, local government, public health, social care and the voluntary sector. As a system leader he oversaw the early development of primary care networks, and integrated care as a peer reviewer for the local government association.
Andy has postgraduate qualifications in child health, surgery, and general practice. He is a fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners, a senior fellow of the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management and was previously a GP trainer. He has a Masters in Health Leadership from McGill University.

I have a Master’s degree in Biometry and PhD that considered the measurement of locomotor disability in epidemiology studies using Rasch Analysis.
My current research focuses on primary care rheumatology, particularly polymyalgia rheumatica, gout and inflammatory arthritis. I am also interested in drug safety. Methodologically, my interests are in the use of routinely collected health care data for research.
I was a trustee of PMRGCAuk from 2018 to 2024, primarily taking responsibility for the charity's links to researchers and its research agenda.

Rhian’s career has spanned more than 40 years, from her medical training in Cambridge and London to her current role as a Consultant in Geriatric and General Medicine at the University Hospital of Wales (UHW), Cardiff. She has established and delivered a range of services, including intermediate care, rapid assessment, continence and menopause. She has also held numerous leadership positions, including Clinical Director for Geriatrics and Rehabilitation at UHW (2000–2012).

Rhian has made a significant contribution to education and training throughout her career. Her roles have included Chair of the BGS Education and Training Committee (2006–2008) and Training Programme Director for Geriatric Medicine in South Wales (2004–2009; 2020–2025), Specialty Training Committee Chair and Associate Head of School of Medicine

Professor Chris Whitty is Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for England, the UK government’s Chief Medical Adviser and head of the public health profession.

Chris is a practising NHS Consultant Physician at University College London Hospitals (UCLH) and the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, and a visiting professor at Gresham College.

Chris is an epidemiologist and has undertaken research and worked as a doctor in the UK, Africa and Asia. He was Professor of Public and International Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) before becoming CMO and remains an honorary professor.

Chris was the Chief Scientific Adviser for the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) from January 2016 to August 2021, with overall responsibility for the department’s research and development, including being head of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), the government’s major funder of clinical, public health, social care and translational research.

Chris was the interim Government Chief Scientific Adviser from 2017 to 2018, including during the Novichok poisonings. Before that, he was the Chief Scientific Adviser at the Department for International Development (DFID), which included leading technical work on the West Africa Ebola outbreak and other international emergencies.

Dr. Suzanne Festen in internist geriatrician and assistant professor at the UMCG in Groningen, the Netherlands. Het focus in clinical work, research and education is on geriatric oncology, person centered-care, and complex shared decision-making.

Rt Hon Dame Patricia Hewitt served Chair of the NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board from 2022 until 2025, having previously chaired the Norfolk & Waveney Integrated Care System/STP. From 2005 to 2007, Patricia was Secretary of State for Health in the Blair Government, introducing the smoke-free legislation, establishing the NHS Choices website (www.nhs.uk) and creating a ground-breaking public consultation - Our Health, Our Care, Our Say - that anticipated many of the themes of the Five Year Forward View. In 2023, at the invitation of then Chancellor Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, she authored the Hewitt Review of integrated care systems.
Patricia has a long-standing interest in digitally-enabled transformation of healthcare and is now a senior adviser to Cerina Health, the digital-first mental health company; the hospital-at-home platform, Feebris (recent winner of the NHS Award for Excellence in Value Creation); and biosensor wearables firm, Performr.ai. As chair of the UK India Business Council from 2010 to 2018, she helped build partnerships between the two countries in healthcare and life sciences and remains closely involved with the UK-India corridor.
Australian by birth, Patricia came to Britain as a student, graduating from Newnham College, Cambridge. She lives in Norfolk; in her spare time, she is an enthusiastic gardener, active in her village community and loves walking and music. She has a daughter in London and a son in Sydney.