This event is made possible by sponsorship from organisations including pharmaceutical companies, med tech companies and service providers none of which have influenced the event content or the choice of speakers. Sessions delivered with input from these organisations will be marked as such on the programme once released and a list of all sponsors and exhibitors will be published shortly.
Dr Hester Wain
Head of patient safety policy for NHS England
Hester has worked in the NHS since 2004, in both the provider and commissioning sectors. She previously had a more academic career as a Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Programme Manager at University College London working on the Human Genome Project naming human genes.
As Head of patient safety policy, her role is to inspire, motivate and influence the NHS to help develop patient safety improvements across healthcare, to reduce harm to patients and staff. She has more than a decade’s worth of experience of using quality improvement science to implement and embed sustainable changes. Hester leads on patient safety policy within the areas of safety culture, primary care, inequalities reduction and patient involvement and supports other implementation work with patient safety specialists and integrated care systems.
Hester is passionate about equity, diversity and inclusion and is a member / ally supporting several staff networks and chairing NHSE's Menopause Network. As a qualified coach/mentor Hester enables staff across the NHS to develop their talents, as well as supporting others in her capacity as a Menopause Ambassador and a Mental health first aider.
Alongside her career, Hester has over 20 years’ experience as a healthcare charity trustee and is the co- vice chair of Samaritans, as well as being a listening volunteer since 2018. Hester is married, with two horses, four cats and an assortment of poultry and likes to spend her spare time managing a small woodland in Hampshire and visiting Burgundy, France.
