Kay is the Practice Manager at Urban Village Medical Practice in Ancoats, Manchester.  As well as the usual suite of NHS General Practice services the practice also specialises in addressing those patients facing health inequalities, they run a specialist service for those people experiencing homelessness, an in-house substance misuse service, tissue viability care and have specialist clinicians focussing on those people who find it difficult to access healthcare.

Having been employed within the NHS since being a teenager she has seen lots of changes and developments and worked in various parts of the service.  Kay was awarded the National Association of Primary Care “Practice Manager of the Year” in 2017 and has since helped to set up The Institute of General Practice Management, the registered body for all Managers in Primary Care.

Outside of work Kay is a keen allotmenteer where she prefers to grow flowers for the vase.  She enjoys weekends away in a campervan and may also occasionally be found dancing in a field at a music festival.

Lorna splits her time working for the RCGP as a Deputy Lead on the Primary Care Development programme and as a Specialist in Field for GP Excellence, the flagship programme of the Greater Manchester Primary Care Provider Board. Lorna’s background is in practice management, and she has almost 20 years’ experience in General Practice and is accredited with the IGPM. Before the COVID pandemic she was a Lay assessor for Health Education England, assessing FY2 doctors applying to start GP training, and has more recently worked as senior consultant on the Good Practice Guidelines team at NECS.

Lorna is a qualified coach and mentor, specialising in professional development. She has an MBA and a post grad qualification in strategic management and leadership and a special interest in Continuous quality improvement (CQI).

As the Founder & Managing Director of Inspired HR, Nikki brings over 30 years of experience in HR, Coaching, Leadership, Training and Business to her clients. Over the last 8 years, Nikki has built and transformed Inspired HR into the successful, award winning, innovative, forward-thinking and flourishing nationwide business that it is today. Aside from leading Inspired HR, she is also a: – School Governor – Champion for Neurodiversity and Disabilities in the Workplace – CMC Accredited Civil, Commercial & Workplace Mediator – UCA Certified & Accredited ADHD Coach – Professional Coach and Mentor for HR Professionals and Business Leaders – Certified Disc Profiler – Northeast FSB Council Member Nikki is often described as a “True Force of Nature” and “Inspiring Speaker”.

Ryan is a Practice Manager in London as well as Business Manager for a PCN. His NHS career began as a part-time receptionist and has spanned multiple administrative and clinical roles in both primary and secondary care. Whilst he has only been in the NHS for five years, Ryan is passionate about General Practice and driven to make positive changes which benefit both patients and Practices. Outside of work, Ryan pursues an academic interest in migration, in particular how this intersects with health inequalities.

A committed NHS IT geek, Dave Mills is the head of Think Healthcare, one of the largest NHS specialist cloud telephony platforms.

Dave has a broad background in the NHS IT sector, starting with half a decade in GP practice management which fuelled a passion to improve IT infrastructure within the NHS for patients benefit.

He has since been involved with various national provider platforms including patient workflow platforms and primary care clinical systems.

His current passion is focussing on improving patient access to GP services via the medium of cloud telephony.

Alison Daff MCIM is a primary care marketing specialist. With over 20 years in strategic and tactical marketing, Alison is passionate about helping practices with communications and navigating the digital landscape.

Sally Leech is a Director of Henpicked: Menopause in the Workplace, The Menopause Friendly Accreditation and The Menstruation Friendly Accreditation. Henpicked have been working with UK-wide and international organisations for over 8 years to make it easier for them to introduce the right training, policies and practices to raise awareness, education and support organisations in becoming menopause friendly and now menstruation friendly. Prior to re-qualifying as a Women’s Health Coach, Sally held several senior management positions in Human Resources. She has combined this expertise in her work with Henpicked, focusing on breaking the taboo of menopause and now menstruation and menstrual health within the workplace and raising awareness for employers, managers and colleagues.

Lucy King, a Patient Services Manager from Somerset, is passionate about patient engagement and believes in the power of involving patients in shaping healthcare. Lucy advocates for listening to patients and incorporating their feedback to improve services, particularly in challenging times for the NHS. With a dedication to making a positive impact, Lucy works closely with her Patient Participation Group, empowering them to have a voice in their care, involving them in the decision making processes and enhancing the support offered by general practices.

With a career spanning four decades, Maria has always maintained a focus on the customer or patient being at the centre of their own personal needs. This has taken her on a journey from secondary to primary care, from junior secretarial support to senior health and social care management; culminating in the delivery of training and guidance to NHS organisations all around the UK and general practice advisory services as part of the team at RCGP. Areas of specialism have grown around general practice management; PCN development and support; holistic support, wellbeing and self-care for staff, patients and carers; CQC preparedness; effective team working and fundamental leadership skills. Maria’s ultimate career aim is to continue to provide training and guidance to all members of primary care teams, enabling individuals to achieve their own personal aspirations, and to become their best selves in the workplace. Seeing people thrive in their demanding roles and seeing practice staff travel smoothly up the ladder of success into senior management is the impetus that keeps Maria motivated to continue to share, to listen and to offer every piece of advice and support that she can offer her NHS colleagues.

Edward started his career in higher education at the University of Chester. During this time he won the prestigious UK Excellence Award with his colleagues in student services, and was awarded a MBA. He moved to a management position in the Royal College of Physicians at the newly founded RCP North in Liverpool, before entering practice management in North Wales. Edward moved to Malpas Surgery in December 2019 and led the team through COVID, and out of COVID, into a significant premises development project funded by improvement grant. Edward became Managing Partner in 2024.

Ex-Forces GP. Worked in Northumberland for many years after leaving the Army but for last 14 years has worked in Wideopen in North Tyneside. GP trainer for 22 years before retiring in 2018 and MRCGP examiner since 2006. Chair of Newcastle and North Tyneside LMC since 2017.