COTS 2023

Romy-Jo is an innovative leader in person-centered support, serving as the Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Humans Cornwall, a program within the charitable company, disAbility Cornwall & Isles of Scilly. Prompted by pandemic challenges, she collaborated with NHS and Social Care to create seamless pathways for hospital discharge. Her vision attracted Public Health investment, evolving into a trailblazer in personalisation, shaping new systems and securing significant NHS contracts. Beyond core services, Humans Cornwall fosters a social movement, empowering people and investing in community care providers. Romy-Jo's transformative leadership has earned local and national recognition, driven by her dedication to improving lives and maximising social return on investment, now on the national NHS England Clinical Entrepreneur Programme for 2024.

Anita Astle, MBE Anita Astle MBE RGN QI is the owner of Wren Hall, an Outstanding Nursing Home in Nottingham, and a dedicated Registered General Nurse. Anita has a very hands-on role as manager of the Home, and as team leader and mentor to a truly outstanding team. Wren Hall has won multiple national awards over many years and is recognised as a Dementia Specialist Service. As well as being the Managing Director of Wren Hall since 1989, Anita is also an Executive Director of Nottinghamshire Care Association, representing care providers to improve the quality of their services and working in partnership at a strategic level with NHS bodies and Local Authorities. As well as being an activist in many other groups, Anita is also a board member of the National Care Association. Issac Theophilos Issac Theophilos is the owner of two care homes in Torbay, Aveland Court and Lorna House is one of the top care home consultants in the UK. Issac is the author of Amazon bestselling book ‘How to get Outstanding’. With his innovative care consultancy, Outstanding Care Homes, Issac brings together excellent consultants with a successful track record in the care home sector with compliance, training and development, leadership, culture and business performance. He attended LSE and Canterbury Christ Church University and has an MBA in Leadership and Healthcare Management. Geoffrey Cox Geoffrey Cox is the Managing Director and owner of Southern Healthcare, a Care Provider with four nursing homes in Devon rated eitherof which 3 are rated ‘Outstanding’ and the other ‘Good with outstanding in well led. Geoffrey is also the CEO of The Eden Alternative UK, a community-interest training company, promoting training and development the Eden Alternative philosophy of care, a modern model of care focusing on addressing loneliness, helplessness and boredom in the resident population and enhancing wellbeing and partnership working in the team. He is a director of the Devon Care Homes Collaborative and the National Care Association an active member of the Care Alliance Association and the Reinventing Social Care team.

As Managing Director of Safespaces, Stephen Curran has extensive experience in leading organisations through dynamic growth and development. Driven by a passion for making a broader social impact, Stephen’s vision for Safespaces holds immense potential to enhance the lives of countless individuals by providing safe environments that improve health and wellbeing making the world more accessible to people with complex needs.

Adrian Scaife, TEC Specialist at The Access Group, is passionate about using technology-enabled care (TEC) services to deliver better quality and outcomes for people who draw on care, as well as the individuals and organisations who support them. At Access, Adrian is focused on how TEC can drive innovation in the sector and create a meaningful shift towards a preventative model.

Alison is Professor in Occupational Therapy in the School of Science, Technology, and Health at York St John University. She qualified as an occupational therapist in 1986 and has worked as an occupational therapy clinician, researcher, professional lead, service improvement lead, and educator. She has taught and undertaken research at universities in England, Canada, and the USA. Alison’s PhD resulted in the development of the Structured Observational Test of Function (SOTOF), and she has focussed much of her research and writing around occupational therapy and allied health professionals’ assessment and outcome measurement, particularly with older people. This has included the development of the Activity Card Sort – United Kingdom version (ACS-UK) and publication of two textbooks and several book chapters on assessment, including ‘Principles of Assessment and Outcome Measurement for Allied Health Professionals: Practice, Research and Development’ (Laver-Fawcett and Cox, 2021). She is currently Chair of the Research into Occupational Therapy and Occupational Science (ROTOS) Foundation Board and Chair of the Occupational Therapy Europe Foundation Board.

TBC