Speaker bios

Megan is a facilitator, teacher, speaker, executive coach, researcher and author dedicated to exploring and finding ways to improve the way we interact with one another in the workplace.

https://www.meganreitz.com/what-i-do 

John is a researcher, author, editor and advisor. Since 2013, he has been exploring the realities of ‘speaking truth to power’ and what it takes for people to find their voice in a meaningful way in the workplace.

http://www.johnhigginsresearch.com/bio.php

Steven is a Chartered Psychologist and Chartered Ergonomist and Human Factors Specialist with over 25 years experience in safety critical industries. He has a BSc (Hons) in Applied Psychology, an MSc (Eng) in Work Design and Ergonomics, and a PhD on human error analysis. 

He has worked on high-profile infrastructure projects, and collaborative safety and just culture projects spanning over 30 European countries. He works at EUROCONTROL Network Manager as Senior Team Leader Human Factors, where he leads the Safety Culture Programme and is Editor-in-Chief of HindSight magazine. 

He is also Adjunct Associate Professor at University of the Sunshine Coast (Centre for Human Factors & Sociotechnical Systems). In a private capacity, he blogs at www.humanisticsystems.com

Paul is a safety scientist, medical educator and chartered ergonomist & human factors expert with around 30 years of experience leading and collaborating in research, innovation and educational development to improve the quality and safety of healthcare in the UK and globally.   He has also provided expert risk and safety consultancy to medical defence, independent investigation, commercial healthcare, aviation, military and academic organisations.  Paul is currently Programme Director (Safety and Improvement) with NHS Education for Scotland based in Glasgow, Scotland and he is also Professor of Human Factors for Health & Social Care at Staffordshire University.  

In 2004, Paul gained his doctorate in significant event analysis in primary healthcare from the University of Glasgow.  He has published over 160 articles in international peer-reviewed healthcare journals and co-edited a book on patient safety and quality improvement in primary care. 

Paul is Honorary Professor and a PhD supervisor and examiner in the School of Health and Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow, and Adjunct Professor at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and the Royal College of General Practitioners, and a Registered Member of the UK Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors, where he is also the Healthcare Sector Group Lead on Patient Safety.

Fiona is Chief People Officer within the Health Workforce Directorate of Scottish Government, a unique post with an external focus, working to build strong links between Government, NHS Boards and the wider Health and Social Care system to ensure our people priorities are aligned and our resources used to best effect.  

Prior to taking up this role in May 2023, Fiona was Director of People & Culture at NHS Highland, driving the leadership, governance and culture transformation following the Sturrock report.  She joined the NHS after 20 years working in a range of people, change and leadership roles in the Financial Services and Pharmaceutical R&D sectors, and is passionate about compassionate leadership, encouraging challenge, valuing difference,  promoting kindness and respect and putting people not processes first.  Fiona is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD and has a degree in HR from the University of Stirling.

LLB MB ChB MPhil FFFLM FRCGP FRCP (Edin) FRCP DFM 

George is the Senior Medical Reviewer based at Healthcare Improvement Scotland where his main role is to lead the Death Certification Review Service for the system of random, proportionate scrutiny of Medical Certificates of Cause of Death (MCCDs) implemented in May 2015. He was the inaugural Registrar and 3rd President of the Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians. He continues to work actively as a forensic medical examiner for NHS Lothian.

Further to this, George co-chairs the Responding to Concerns Group at HIS, is the organisation’s Caldicott Guardian as well as being Vice-Chair of the UK Caldicott Guardian Council and is a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Contemporary Coronial Law at the University of Bolton.

Fran has come to the field of whistleblowing following significant experience in the world of complaints.  Since 2017 she has been developing her understanding of the issues relating to speaking up.  

She was instrumental in the development of the National Whistleblowing Standards, leading an extensive range of stakeholder engagement, consultation and co-design. Fran has been leading the INWO team since its inception in 2020, through the delivery of an early advice line, and the first cases coming to the service. Over the last 3 years she has engaged constructively with both whistleblowers and organisations, for the benefit of all concerned.  Fran and her team have learnt much from the cases that they have investigated, and are always keen to share this learning as widely as possible.

Elaine Cameron is Head of Investigations for the Independent National Whistleblowing Officer and Scottish Welfare Fund at the SPSO.  Elaine joined the SPSO 6 months ago from her CEO post with a small Scottish Charity, after over 15 years of working within the voluntary sector.  

Elaine is committed to supporting the implementation of the National Whistleblowing Standards and promoting learning from concerns to make improvements.

Lucy is Chief Executive of the NHS Practitioner Health Service. She has over 25 years NHS experience ranging across many aspects of health care, working with practices, local and national teams and including a stint in Gibraltar.    

Lucy has previously worked with NHS England as the Responding to Concerns Lead, focusing on concerns in the medical workforce and with the NHS Revalidation Support Team supporting the implementation of appraisal and revalidation for doctors in England. She also previously headed up Primary Care for the Clinical Governance Support Team.

Aled is Professor of Patient Safety & Healthcare Quality and Head of School Nursing and Midwifery. He is an international expert on patient safety and healthcare quality, implementation science and leading research exploring the interface between workforce deployment, workplace culture, patient safety and staff wellbeing. He is also a Non Executive Director at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust. 

Aled is Expert Advisor and contributor to the United Nations (ODC) Guidance on Speaking Up in Healthcare and Advisor to Welsh Government Speak Up safely working group.      

Aled uses qualitative and mixed-methods research to better understand the realities of delivering patient safety and healthcare quality in complex healthcare systems. He has published and presented widely on the implementation and evaluation of patient safety and care quality initiatives, particularly focusing on healthcare workforce and workplace culture and have been successful in obtaining research funding in these areas. He supervises PhD students and collaborates with other researchers within these fields researching the NHS and social care in the UK and internationally. His research feeds directly into teaching and learning and has informed University, NHS policy and international guidance to support staff to raise and respond to patient safety concerns.     

A common thread in his research activities is implementation science and the quality and safety of healthcare delivery. Collaborators include universities of Surrey, KCL, Imperial College, Birmingham, Manchester, Campinas/Sao Paulo and Hong Kong.

Annie is a Senior Lecturer in Health, Medical Law and Ethics at Edinburgh Law School, with a research and teaching portfolio. She is a medical lawyer (currently non-practising) with over 14 years’ experience in legal practice in the health, social care and regulatory sector (September 2001 – December 2015, Partner from 2009). She has extensive experience of providing strategic advice on matters of health regulatory practice and policy.        

Annie's research interrogates two key and related areas, namely health research regulation, with a focus on the role of the public interest, and the regulation of individual health and social care professionals.  She has been called upon to provide independent expert advice to a range of public and third sector bodies in each of these areas. She is a Deputy Director of the Mason Institute for Medicine, Life Sciences and the Law, and co-leads its policy portfolio. She is also currently the Director of KEI within the Law School, and the head of the Health, Medical Law and Ethics Subject Area.  Since June 2018 she has been appointed to the Lay Advisory Group of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, and also serves on the College’s Patient Safety Committee.

Before moving to Glasgow, he was Professor of Management at the University of Liverpool where he was also the founding director of the University of Liverpool Management School, which he was appointed to establish in January 2002. Whilst at Liverpool, he also headed the Science Enterprise Centre (ULSEC).  Prior to Liverpool he was previously Professor of Management at the Universities of Sheffield, Durham and John Moores (where he was also Director of the Management School). He has also been a visiting professor at the Universities of Kobe (Japan), San Diego State (USA) and Innsbruck (Austria). He has been a visiting fellow at the Wolfson Institute at the University of Durham and a visiting professor at Brunel University. He has also held faculty positions at the University of Manchester and both Leicester and Nottingham Polytechnics. He is currently a Visiting Professor in Risk Management at the Crighton Institute (Dumfries), Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU), and at Edge Hill University.           

A graduate of the Universities of Manchester, Glasgow, St Andrews, the Open University, GCU, Derby, and the CNAA, Professor Fischbacher-Smith holds Batchelor’s degrees in Geography/Environmental Science (BEd) and Science (BSc), Masters degrees in Pollution Control (MSc), Applied Psychology (MSc), Psychology in Forensic Settings (MSc), Ergonomics (MSc), Management (MBA), Terrorism Studies (MLitt), War Studies (MLitt), and Public Health (MPH). He holds a DLitt in Crisis Management (Glasgow) and a PhD in Science and Technology Policy (Manchester). His doctoral thesis was concerned with the role of risk analytical data in policy making around major hazard installations.                   

In terms of his professional background, he is a Member of the Institute of Industrial Accident Investigators (MIIAI), and holds Fellowships of the Royal Society of Medicine, the Security Institute (FSyI), the Emergency Planning Society (FEPS), the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors (FCIEHF) and the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS). He is also a Chartered Geographer (CGeog), a Chartered Security Professional (CSyP), a Chartered Ergonomist & Human Factors Specialist (C.ErgHF), a Chartered  Fellow of the Institute of Personnel and Development (FCIPD), and a Chartered Manager (CMgr). In addition, he is a Companion of the Chartered Management Institute (CCMI), a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA)             

Professor Fischbacher-Smith’s work has been concerned with issues of risk management, business continuity and resilience and this has been carried out over a 30-year period. His early work was concerned with the evacuation of urban areas due to extreme events – an interest he maintains to this day. He has also undertaken research on the training and performance of crisis management teams, the production of emergency/contingency plans (and their limitations), the processes by which vulnerability can be generated within organisations and the role of external and internal threat actors in organisational security. He has published widely in the area of crisis management and has been a regular consultant to a number of ‘Blue chip’ companies as well as local authorities, the emergency services, and Government. He has been an adviser to the Government of Lesotho (in Southern Africa) on crisis preparedness, the UK’s Department of Health around issues of adverse events in health care, he was a tutor on the senior command course for the UK’s Prison Service, has been a regular speaker at the Emergency Planning College, and he has also worked with a number of regulatory bodies in the UK and Europe.             

Outside of his academic activities, Professor Fischbacher-Smith has been a director of HARM Consulting and CSC Ltd, as well as a non-executive director of JMU Services, Mersey Regional Ambulance Service, St Helens RLFC and Aintree University Hospital NHS Trust. In terms of policy development, he was a member of the Ministerial Advisory Committee that produced “An Organisation with a Memory” for the Department of Health (England and Wales).

Norman is Associate Director of RCN Scotland with the portfolio for employment relations including responsibility for ensuring the RCN in Scotland has the capacity and capability to provide comprehensive employment relations services including standard representation, regulatory representation and legal advice. Norman represents the RCN at a number of key NHS Scotland partnership groups ensuring the RCN is well positioned to influence the development of policy and partnership working for nurse members in Scotland. In addition Norman is responsible for the provision of legal services to RCN members in Scotland and manages the contract and relationship with RCN Scotland’s external legal providers.

Sukhomoy has dual qualifications in Medicine and Law. He has worked as a hospital doctor in several Scottish NHS Boards since 1996 with special interest and skills in neurovascular medicine and neurorehabilitation medicine. As the former Co-chair of the Scottish Trauma Network’s Rehabilitation Group and a former member of the STN’s Steering Group, he played a key role in setting the strategic direction of the new rehabilitation service for major trauma patients, including the development of the national ‘rehabilitation plan’.      

He became publicly known as a 'whistleblower' and for his direct contribution into the Freedom to Speak Up review, the only NHS Scotland employee invited by Sir Robert Francis KC to do so. He campaigned fearlessly and engaged  with the Scottish Ministers, Government and Parliament to accept the report and implement its key recommendations, particularly the creation of an independent national whistleblowing office under a statute in Scotland. As a Non-executive member of NHS Ayrshire and Arran Board he is currently the Chair of East Ayrshire IJB, Chair of the Corporate Equalities Committee, Vice Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee and a member of the Staff Governance Committee, which oversees whistleblowing in the public body. 

Caroline has worked for NHS Lothian for 22 years working clinically as Podiatrist whilst also undertaking roles as a Trade Union and Health & Safety representative . Caroline is passionate about improving staff experience and acknowledges the importance of psychological safety and how it its absence negatively impacts on staff wellbeing. 

She now undertakes a dual role in NHS Lothian as the Staff Wellbeing Lead , implementing the Staff wellbeing strategy 'Work Well' for NHS Lothian and is one of the two Speak Up Ambassador roles leading the Speak up service since 20 along with her colleague Hannah Monaghan. Together they established and co-chair the Scottish Speak Up network for Confidential Contacts across NHS Scotland. 

Rosemary has over 20 years’ experience in the Ombudsman and complaints sector in the UK.  Currently she is both the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO), an office she has held since 1 May 2017; and the Independent National Whistleblowing Officer (INWO) for the NHS in Scotland, a role which took effect from 1 April 2021. 

Her role is varied.  As SPSO it includes investigating and resolving or deciding complaints about the Scottish public sector (except Police and judiciary); the Independent Reviewer of applications to the Scottish Welfare Fund;  and the Complaints Standards Authority.  In her role as INWO she investigates complaints about how whistleblowing concerns have been handled by the NHS, and claims of detriment to individuals resulting from raising  whistleblowing concerns.  She also sets principles and standards for the handling of whistleblowing concerns at local level.  Integral to her role is promotion of good complaints handling practice and learning from complaints.  

From 2012 to 2017, Rosemary was the Scottish Information Commissioner, responsible for ensuring compliance by Scottish public authorities with the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004, including promoting good practice.  Prior to that she worked for the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission and Local Government Ombudsman in England. There is more information about the work of her office here:  www.spso.org.uk