Prof Jon Glasby
Director of IMPACT, Professor of Health and Social Care
University of Birmingham

Jon Glasby trained as a social worker, and is now Professor of Health and Social Care at the University of Birmingham. He is the Director of IMPACT, the UK centre for implementing evidence in adult social care, which works across the UK to get evidence of what works used in practice to make a difference to services and to people’s lives. He is a Non-Executive Director of an NHS Trust and a local authority children’s service, and in 2022 was an academic adviser to the House of Lords Adult Social Care Committee.

More information on IMPACT via https://impact.bham.ac.uk/

Karen Hedge
Deputy CEO
Scottish Care

Karen’s career in social care began as a paid carer and whilst rewarding, she quickly became motivated by the pressures of the sector. A champion for participation and co-production, she believes in evidencing impact through outcomes. Integration is a theme of her career and in her current role, she continues to shape the future of social care. Her portfolio includes reform, commissioning and procurement and nursing in care. She particularly values the Scottish Care Awards where she learns of the successes of the sector and from those who effect change.

Dr Donald Macaskill
CEO
Scottish Care

Dr Donald Macaskill has worked for many years in the health & social care sectors across the UK, specialising in learning disability and older people’s work. A particular professional focus has been bereavement, palliative care and individual rights. For 13 years he ran his own equality and human rights consultancy focusing on adult protection, risk and personalisation. He managed Scottish Care’s SDS project, People as Partners, then was the Joint National Workforce Lead. From 2016 he has been the CEO of Scottish Care.

Brian Whittle MSP
Deputy Party Spokesperson on Social Care, Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party

Brian Whittle is a Scottish Conservative MSP for South Scotland and Shadow Minister for Public Health, Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport. He is a former Olympic-level professional athlete, best known for running his leg of the 1986 European Championships with only one shoe – still achieving a personal best time. Brian trained as an industrial chemist prior to his career in athletics and spent several years in business as a director of various companies working across several sectors, including within the healthcare technology sector, before becoming an MSP in 2016. He is a Member of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee at Holyrood and sits on Cross Party Groups for various subjects including renewable energy, sustainable transport, and improving Scotland’s health. He is interested in tackling the root causes of poor health and health inequalities across Scotland, including access to physical activity.

Patrick Harvie MSP
Party Representative for the Scottish Green Party

Patrick Harvie
MSP for Glasgow Region
Former Co-Leader of the Scottish Green Party

Currently Green spokesperson on Net Zero, Constitution, External Affairs and Culture

Patrick has been an MSP for Glasgow since 2003. A prominent campaigner for Scottish Independence, he has led campaigns on a range of issues from housing, asylum, human rights and LGBTQ+ equality, to progressive tax reform.

In 2021 Patrick and his fellow Co-Leader Lorna Slater became the first Green politicians to enter Government in any of the UK nations, following the cooperation agreement between the Scottish Greens and the SNP Government. Patrick served as Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants’ Rights until April 2024, expanding Scotland’s work on zero-emission heat, delivering record funding for walking, wheeling and cycling infrastructure, and imposing an emergency rent freeze during the cost of living crisis.

Away from work Patrick is a keen cyclist, baker, sci-fi fan and lover of real ale.

Tom Arthur MSP
Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing & Sport, Scottish Government

Speaker information to follow.

Dame Jackie Baillie MSP
Party Spokesperson on Social Care, Scottish Labour

Speaker information to follow.

Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP
Party Spokesperson on Social Care, Scottish Liberal Democrats

Speaker information to follow.

Alan R Povey BSc MBA
Senior Specialist Lead (New Scot Recruitment & Support – Centre for Workforce Supply (Social Care), NHS Education for Scotland

Alan Povey is a Senior Specialist Lead in New Scot recruitment and support at the Centre for Workforce Supply (Social Care), a team within NHS Education for Scotland. He joined NES in 2023 as a key member of a Scottish Government-funded initiative to promote international recruitment into adult social care. Prior to this, Alan worked at the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) as a workforce planner, where he contributed to national strategies for social care staffing, with a focus on international recruitment.

Earlier in his career, Alan gained extensive experience in international workforce planning through roles with NATO and the European Union, and this global perspective has informed his work in Scotland, particularly in supporting displaced workers and New Scots.

Alan is a well-known figure in the sector and has hosted numerous webinars on international recruitment, ethical employment practices, and inclusive workforce development.

Jack Thirwell
 Migration Strategy Team Leader, Population and Migration Division, Directorate for Culture and External Affairs – Scottish Government

Speaker information to follow.

Emma Fyfe
Account Manager – Osborne & Allan Recruitment

Speaker information to follow.

Will Murch
Senior Partnerships Manager – Borderless Recruitment

Speaker information to follow.

Vany Thomas
International Recruit (New Scot)

Speaker information to follow.

Gillian Currie
Independent Sector Lead (Glasgow)
Partners for Integration
Scottish Care

Gillian has been the ISL in Glasgow HSCP with Scottish Care since 2023.  She is a HCPC registered Speech and Language Therapist and has worked clinically in the NHS and in New Zealand. Her specialisms include stroke and brain injury and she has always been passionate about the care and support of older people.

Her career has included working primarily in training and engagement roles in the third sector and medical regulation. This included ten years as Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland’s Stroke Education Facilitator in Lothian with health and social care teams. She also was a Liaison Advisor for the General Medical Council’s outreach team in Scotland where she supported frontline doctors and medical students.

Gillian’s focus has a strong background in ethical practice and promoting safe and holistic care and support. She thrives on supporting her stakeholders, advocating for the social care sector and promoting person led care.

Dr Alastair Cole
Senior Lecturer in Film Practice
Newcastle University

Speaker information to follow.

Claire Pierce
Service Manager (Adults)
Care Inspectorate

Claire has a BA (Hons) in Business Management and a Post Graduate Diploma in Social Work Studies.  On moving to Scotland in 1997 Claire managed services in the private and third sector before re-training as a social worker. Claire worked for Stirling Council for five years before joining the Care Inspectorate as an inspector in 2012. After three and a half years as an inspector she became a team manager for an inspection team based near Edinburgh. After six months as a team manager, Claire was appointed to the post of service manager when this was introduced to the Care Inspectorate in 2016.

Claire currently works with five inspection teams covering the West of Scotland from Renfrewshire to Argyll and Bute. She leads on enforcement work for the Care Inspectorate.

Sheri Kerr
Team Manager
Meaningful Connection, Visiting and Anne’s Law Project
Care Inspectorate

Sheri has a BSc (Hons) in Health and Social Care and a Diploma in Social Work. Her career has included frontline and leadership roles, including working in care homes for older people and adults with learning disabilities, practising as a social worker, and working as a Mental Health Officer.

Sheri joined the Care Inspectorate in 2015, and since October 2022 has led national work on connection and visiting in care homes through the Meaningful Connection, Visiting and Anne’s Law Project. The project has produced a wide range of resources informed by research and by engagement with people. This includes, most recently, the guidance document “Supporting Meaningful Connection: Good Practice Guidance for Care Homes” (September 2025), a comprehensive resource designed to support services in embedding connection and upholding human rights in everyday care.

Sheri is passionate about ensuring everyone in a care home can maintain and develop connections which enrich daily life, and that relationships and human rights must remain at the heart of care.

Steph Thom
Programme Lead
Safe Staffing Programme
Care Inspectorate

My name is Stephanie Thom (although I like to be referred to as Steph) and I work in the Care Inspectorate’s Scottish Government funded Safe Staffing Programme. I currently hold 17 years’ experience of working in social care.

In the Care Inspectorate since joining in 2017 I have held various roles. These include inspection, regulation and management. The Safe Staffing Programme has been central to supporting our internal and external stakeholders with the change from Regulation 15 to the Health & Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019. As well as supporting local and integrated authorities with their reporting duties under the Act.

I have held several roles within the substance misuse, mental health and homelessness social care sector. These are areas I have had genuine intertest in from an early age.

I was extremely lucky and managed to get my first role within The Mungo Foundation CASS service in July 2007. During my time with The Mungo Foundation, I was able to be part of several projects that were started from scratch including the CASS service and various housing support service’s where I was the lead. After eight years with The Mungo Foundation, I moved on to be part of another pilot project with Addaction.

The project was funded by The Big Lottery after research that was completed by Sarah Wadd from Bristol university. The purpose of the pilot was to gather evidence and data which in turn was used by the Government to guide and implement new policies to support people with substance misuse in Scotland.

Outside of work I enjoy spending time with my fiancé Stuart and my miniature sausage dog Coco.

Nicola Cooper
Head of Digital Futures
Scottish Care

Nicola Cooper has worked in Social Care innovation for over 10 years and has specialist knowledge of technology design and implementation in aged care and dementia. She sees technology as a way to make life easier for humans when designed ethically and inclusively, and as an efficiency multiplier for sustainability in relational care.

She is passionate about creating, making and mending systems, services and products that work well for the most vulnerable and invisible in society.

Currently she is leading on the implementation and spread of the Care Technologist role in social care. In previous work she has led on the development of self-management applications for long term conditions which are now widely used and adopted in Scotland.

Fraser Smith
Policy Lead (Ethical Commissioning)
Scottish Care

Fraser has been with Scottish Care since October 2023, working as their dedicated Policy Lead for commissioning and procurement to oversee Scottish Care research into the implementation of ethical commissioning and procurement. He engages closely with independent providers of adult social and their commissioning bodies, to understand the challenges and opportunities across the sector to embed an ethical approach across Scotland.

April Lochhead
National Improvement Advisor Lead for Community Urgent Care
Unscheduled Care
Centre for Sustainable Delivery
Directorate for Health Performance and Delivery, Scottish Government

Community Urgent Care (CUC)

National Improvement Advisor Lead for CUC is April Lochhead – [email protected].

Portfolio 1 aims optimise urgent care within the community to preventing unnecessary presentation at ED. The initial focus was care homes and was now focusing on access to community urgent care.

April has a background in Occupational Therapy and has worked in acute settings and in Health and Social Care. Prior to this post April was Clinical Effectiveness Lead for falls and Frailty with The Scottish Ambulance Service.

April is dedicated to improving patient care, with a belief that focus should be on the patients needs and a whole system approach.

Carrie Taylor
Clinical Safety Officer
Nourish Care

Carrie is the Clinical Lead and Safety Officer for Nourish Care, a market leader in digital social care information and insights management. Carrie is a registered general nurse with over 10 years experience in health and social care, predominantly as a senior operations manager within the private care sector for care home providers. In her role as Clinical Lead and Safety Officer, Carrie oversees all clinical risk assessment for Nourish Care, including establishing and managing our clinical practice team. Carrie and her team help guide Nourish Care’s product design, keeping their technology connected to the lived experience of care utilisation and provision.

Paul Skuse
Product Manager
Nourish Care

Paul has 20 years experience in the Health & Social Care sector working across multiple types of care services. He has worked with Nourish for the past 3 years and is the Product Manager for Insights and Analytics where he brings his sector knowledge to create products which have real-world, everyday impact.

Dave Henderson
Independent Sector Lead (Perth & Kinross)
Partners for Integration
Scottish Care

With over 30 years’ experience in local authority, Dave brings a wealth of expertise to his role as Independent Sector Lead (ISL) with Scottish Care, which he took up in November 2022. The last 14 years of his local authority career were dedicated to social care, starting with a brief period in finance, before progressing into commissioning and contracting with a particular focus on the care home sector. His leadership and strategic insight were further demonstrated in his promotion to Team Leader in 2019, managing a broader portfolio across social care.

His longstanding collaboration with the local social care sector, alongside working collaboratively with his ISL predecessor in his commissioning and contracting role, has enabled a seamless transition into the ISL post. He brings a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing the social care sector today.

He believes strongly that—no matter how big or small—the role each of us plays in health and social care is vital. At its heart, the sector is about helping others, even in the face of adversity.

 

Sammy Cassels
Care Home Trusted Assessor
Perth & Kinross Health and Social Care Partnership

With years of experience in Health and Social Care, Sammy has worked across mental health services and older adult sector. Her passion for promoting wellbeing led her to work with a charitable organisation dedicated to reducing social isolation among adults. Joining Perth and Kinross Council in a position focused on supporting unpaid carers, championing their voices, and advocating for their needs to help prevent carer breakdown including collaborating with care homes to ensure carers of respite residents were informed, involved, and supported throughout the care journey. Her work in this area was not only deeply rewarding but also pivotal in delivering compassionate carer services.

Currently, Sammy is advancing the development of the Trusted Assessor role, drawing on her wide-ranging experience across statutory, private, and third-sector services. Her commitment to foster strong relationships and driving collaborative partnerships between health and social care has been central to her approach.

Alyson Vale
Business & Operations Director
Abbotsford Care

Speaker information to follow.

Caroline Deane
Workforce Policy & Practice Lead
Scottish Care

Speaker information to follow.

Speaker information to follow.

Claire Hay
Human Resources and Organisational Development Director
Crossreach

Having graduated from Paisley University in 1998 with an Honours degree in Business Administration, specialising in Human Resource Management, Claire then commenced employment with CrossReach in 1998 to cover a period of maternity leave.

Securing a permanent role, Claire has gone on to hold a number of roles within the HR Operations and Policy and Procedure teams.

In October 2011 Claire became the Business Partner for Quality, Compliance and Improvement at CrossReach, a role which she held until becoming the Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development in January 2021.