Join Nightingale Hammerson, leading experts in residential, nursing, dementia and palliative care, as we explore the future of care and the importance of research in care homes.
Hammerson House, Wohl Campus
50A The Bishops Avenue, London N2 0BE
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Take a look at this year's full programme
Our speakers include
Professor Gill Livingston
Professor of Psychiatry of Older People, UCL
2024 Lancet commission: How can we prevent Dementia?
Gill Livingston is a clinical academic, working with people with suspected or confirmed dementia and their families. She researches interventions to improve the lives of people with dementia and their families and staff caring for them and particularly consider underserved and minority communities. Her research is with people living at home and with people in care homes. She leads the Lancet Standing Commission on Dementia Prevention, Intervention and Care, 2017, 2020 and 2024. The findings have substantial implications in preventing and delaying a significant proportion of dementia. They have resulted in changes in WHO, UK and US policy which aim to reduce dementia risk.
Professor Deborah Sturdy RN MSc (Econ), CBE
Chief Nurse for Social Care
Social Care Nursing Research catalyst for change
Deborah was appointed as the first Chief Nurse for Adult Social Care in 2021. She has held a number of previous roles including senior posts in practice, research and policy, in both social care services and the NHS. She was appointed the expert nurse on the Gosport Independent Panel the report of which was laid before Parliament in 2018.
She is a passionate care sector advocate and believes the workforce is its greatest asset. Developing careers, opening new pathways of opportunity and boosting recognition of care colleagues’ skills, value and expertise are, in her view, vital to the future success of the profession.
She holds two Visiting Chairs in Nursing at Manchester Metropolitan and Buckinghamshire New Universities. Deborah has written numerous papers for publications and presented at national and international meetings.
She was awarded a CBE in the 2023 Honours list and an OBE in the 2017. She is a Fellow of the QNI and RCN and received the British Geriatric President’s Medal for her contribution to older people nursing the first nurse to receive this.
Professor Penny Rapaport
Principal Research Fellow / Clinical Psychologist, UCL
Improving sleep in dementia – DREAMS START study
Professor Penny Rapaport is a National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Advanced Fellow in the Division of Psychiatry at University College London and an Honorary Clinical Psychologist at Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust, London, having received her PhD at UCL on the Development and testing of a non-pharmacological treatment for agitation in people living with dementia in care homes. Her research interests include collaborating on the development, testing and implementation of non-pharmacological interventions for people living with dementia and those supporting them. She is currently leading a programme of work exploring the care and support needs of older people experiencing homelessness and living with memory problems and is Chief Investigator of the DREAMS START (Dementia RElAted Manual for Sleep; STrAtegies for RelaTives) Randomised controlled trial testing a non-pharmacological intervention to improve sleep for people living with dementia.
Dr Ros Taylor MBE
Medical Director Harlington Hospice
Care Homes, are they the Hospices of the Future?
Dr Taylor has over 30 years of experience in palliative care and was awarded an MBE for Services to Hospice Care following a nomination by a patient. She was Clinical Director at Hospice UK, a national umbrella organisation for the hospice/palliative movement, advocating for improved access to palliative care in all settings including care homes. In January 2020, she took on the medical leadership role to re-open Michael Sobell Hospice in West London. She has contributed to the Lancet Commission on the Value of Death on topics such as the ‘will to live’, power and gender issues. She is a Senior Advisor to the Montreal International Congress on Palliative Care. She has developed a new resource, HPAL, which curates essential palliative information for both family and professional caregivers.
Dr. Stephen Allan
Senior Research Fellow, PSSRU, University of Kent
Is staff pay a factor in the quality of care homes?
Stephen is a social and health care economist with the Personal Social Services Research Unit (PSSRU) at the University of Kent. He has over 15 years’ experience and has particular research interests in market sustainability, care outcomes and the social care workforce. Stephen has worked on a number of large national research projects and is currently part of the study team on the Policy Research Unit in Adult Social Care. His research includes analysis of competition, prices and provider closure in social care, how supply of social care affects quality and delayed discharges from hospital and analysing the impact of potential funding reforms on the care market. In terms of the social care workforce, Stephen is currently involved in research looking at the effect of wage on workforce supply and has examined how staffing factors, such as pay and contract type, influence provider quality for both care homes and home care.
Dr Zena Aldridge RMHN
Social Care Nurse Fellow, NIHR
Translating research into practice – Promoting continence in dementia care
Zena’s career in health and social care has spanned across four decades, initially in domiciliary care and as a nursing auxiliary in acute and community settings. Zena qualified as a mental health nurse in 2003 before going on to complete her master’s degree in 2013. More recently Zena has undertaken a PhD resulting in a thesis titled “Relationships, morality and emotion: Their impact and influence on nursing home staff decision-making when a resident with advanced dementia deteriorates”. Zena’s areas of specialist interest include the care of older people, dementia care, palliative and end of life care, continence management, and biopsychosocial care. Zena holds a portfolio of clinical/academic roles including alongside that of Social Care Nurse Fellow to accommodate her various areas of skills and knowledge.
Lena Sakure
Speech and Language Therapist
Intergenerational care: impact for care home residents
Lena is a speech and language therapist working in the NHS and is finishing a PhD programme in Language and Cognition at University College London. Lena conducts qualitative studies into social interaction, activity participation and play in adult-child pairs. Lena has also taught on the topic of play and memory on the speech and language therapy master’s course at UCL.
