The Glasshouse, Gateshead, 21 October 2026
Following the success of the 2025 event, where Sir Jim Mackey gave the keynote and I chaired the panel launching A Fresh Mandate for Digital Leadership in the NHS, Global Government Forum returns to the North East on 21 October 2026 with Making Digital Deliver for the NHS, at The Glasshouse in Gateshead.
The NHS has no shortage of digital ambition. The challenge is turning strategy into measurable improvements for patients, staff and taxpayers. The event will bring together the leaders responsible for delivering that change across health and care, and concentrate on what it takes in practice: what works, what doesn’t and how to scale it. It is for NHS digital, clinical and executive leaders, for colleagues in local government and the wider public sector, and for the region’s technology community.
Sir Jim Mackey, chief executive of NHS England, and Rob Thompson, chief digital, data and technology officer at the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England, will open the day. The first panel will discuss what it will take to deliver the 10 Year Health Plan at national, regional and local level, with Dr Sean Fenwick (Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust), Philippa Kirkpatrick (Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust) and Charlotte Williams (North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust) alongside Rob Thompson. A second session will look at how the NHS and its technology suppliers work together.
The afternoon is in a workshop format, designed so that people can work with others on the questions that matter most to them: scaling AI, digital capability, the role of the digital centre, what NHS boards need, the resilience of the foundations, and trust in health data.
Registration is open now: register to attend.