Faculty of Health and Care Conference 2026
Please join our third annual conference featuring keynote addresses, panel sessions, scientific abstracts and posters, and practical workshops. Our theme this year is 'Collaborate, Learn and Professionalise'.
Conference date: Tuesday 30th June 2026
Venue: BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, Ground Floor, 25 Copthall Avenue, London, EC2R 7BP
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Time |
Session Type |
Description |
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09:00 |
Welcome and opening keynote |
Welcome: Conference Chair, BCS & FEDIP Leadership Opening Keynote: Preparing the NHS Health Informatics Workforce for Healthcare AI. Speakers: James Freed, Deputy Director, NHS Digital Academy and Hatim Abdulhussein, CEO, Health Innovation Network Kent, Surrey and Sussex |
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09:45 |
Keynote Panel Discussion |
Digital profession in the UK – Future Direction. Speakers: Shana Vijayan, Asst Director for the Digital Profession, NHS England. Other speakers to be confirmed |
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10:45 |
Break |
Networking Coffee & Sponsor Showcase |
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11:15 |
Presentations + |
e-PRaSE - electronic prescribing risk and safety evaluation project. Results of a project looking at how ePMA systems are being configured, to mitigate medication related error, across England |
AI Showcase |
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12:00 |
Presentations + |
EPR implementation – improving clinical workflows and working in partnership with other trusts Speakers: Andy Carruthers, Group Chief Technology Innovation Officer, University Hospitals of Northamptonshire and Leicestershire |
Cogstack – an overview of an AI driven clinical text analytics platform and examples of its use. Speakers: Dr Tom Searle, Research Fellow, Kings College London and Aleksandra Foy, NLP workstream lead, Cogstack |
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12:45 |
Lunch |
Networking Lunch & Sponsor Showcase |
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13:45 |
Podium presentations |
Podium Presentations: Best 5 informatics research project abstracts selected for podium presentation |
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14:15 |
Keynote |
Governance framework for AI in Healthcare: As systems become more autonomous, how the regulatory system is changing. Speaker: TBC |
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15:00 |
Break |
Networking Coffee & Sponsor Showcase |
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15:30 |
Presentations + |
Introducing AI tools in Healthcare settings: implementation challenges and how to navigate cultural and ethical issues and the regulatory framework. Speakers TBC |
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16:15 |
Presentations + |
Digital Clinical Risk Management session |
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16:50 |
Plenary |
Closing remarks |
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17:00 |
Evening |
Conference Reception & Awards Ceremony |
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Shana Vijayan
Shana Vijayan is the Assistant Director for the Digital Profession at NHS England, where she is responsible for the development of an NHS wide digital and data profession. She has an extensive background in health management, strategy and innovation in complex and varied environments.
She champions a culture which is open and transparent. Her particular interest is in how NHS organisations can be more effective. She is concerned with how public health services are held to account and the tools and technologies that shape healthcare.
Shana is a trustee of The National Museum of Computing (TNMOC) based at Bletchley. She is also a trustee of Rosetrees Trust, a charitable foundation that funds cutting edge medical research, and serves as an expert panel member for the Vivensa Foundation, which supports pioneering science and radical social innovation to enable healthy ageing.
She holds a PhD from UCL and is a former Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
James Freed
James Freed leads the NHS Digital Academy, an organisation dedicated to supporting teams in health and care to deliver more value tomorrow than they did today. He was the last Chief Digital and Information Officer for Health Education England and his career has taken him through Cancer Research, Change Management and Standards development.
In 2017 James was voted by peers as one of the top 100 influencers globally in Health IT as part of the #HIT100 twitter campaign. He is a Fellow of the British Computer Society, a FedIP accredited Leading Practitioner and a Chartered Health CIO accredited through CHIME. In 2025 James was awarded BAME Ally of the Year across health and care.
Hear from national and international speakers in a CPD awarded programme and join us after the event for networking in an informal drinks reception.
Please register for your ticket here: BCS Third Faculty of Health and Care Conference 2026.
