The 2008 Chairs Conference was held in London on Tuesday 29 January.
Over 400 chairs represented trusts from across England at the conference, where speakers included the Rt. Hon. Alan Johnson and Ann Keen MP.

The conference was delivered by The Appointments Commission on behalf of the Department of Health in association with Monitor, the NHS Confederation and the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement.

Summary of the conference

The Chairs Conference 2008 featured an array of excellent speakers and thought provoking debate. The Appointment Commission's Anne Watts hosted the day and welcomed Secretary of State Alan Johnson to the stage. In his address he highlighted some of the key challenges facing the NHS but also emphasised the progress made in meeting these challenges. He ended by expressing his appreciation for the important role of chairs and their leadership in the health service.

Mark Britnell and Bill Moyes, familiar figures in the NHS landscape discussed the critical contribution of chairs and their boards in service delivery and achieving world class commissioning. This provoked a lot of lively debate, which extended throughout the lunch break.

After lunch we were treated to a master class in governance from the renowned international expert Bob Garratt, famous as the author of 'The fish rots from the head'. More food for thought was provided by Bernard Crump from the NHS Institute who was joined by the inspirational Maureen Bisognano and Jim Reinertsen from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in the States. Their focus on patient safety and the difference boards can make to the patient experience clearly resonated with the audience.

Finally Nigel Edwards encouraged the audience to focus on the strategic challenges ahead with his customary wit and style.

Andrea Sutcliffe, Chief Executive of the Appointments Commission who organised the event said 'The day was a great success. We have had lots of good feedback from delegates who appreciated hearing from the Secretary of State but also thoroughly enjoyed the different perspectives presented by our excellent speakers. We will be pulling together the key issues raised during the day into a report for Ministers.'

A conference evaluator was onsite for the day. Using an innovative technique to capture the content of presentations, Graham illustrated the main themes and topics discussed. Delegates were then invited to view the gallery of images and comment in agreement or argument to the pictures displayed.

What did you think?

Thank you to everyone who attended and helped make the event a huge success.

The feedback delegates give helps us to shape future events. Share your thoughts and comments on the 2008 Chairs Conference by filling out an evaluation form online.

Presentations also available as podcasts

Recordings of many of the presentations are available to download as podcasts.