National charity the ‘Hospital Broadcasting Association’ brought their annual Conference and Awards to Winchester at the weekend, for the first time! The charity is an umbrella organisation for over 160 hospital, health & wellbeing radio stations, and the Conference & Awards provide volunteers within those member stations the opportunity to get together for training, networking and inspiration, and celebration of the services these stations provide to best support patients and the wider community.
The theme of this year’s Conference was: ‘Future-proofing Hospital Health and Wellbeing Broadcasting in an evolving NHS’ and the HBA Conference team were delighted to welcome both Julie Dawes, Chief Nurse at Hampshire Hospitals, along with MP Steve Brine, Chair of the Health and Social Care Select Committee as the two Keynote Speakers to address station volunteers who attended from across the country.
Julie Dawes has worked as a nurse for 43 years and is passionate about patient care and drives high standards of care. She was able to talk to delegates about ‘The value of hospital radio, and the changing challenges, demands and opportunities facing hospitals.’
Julie Dawes said of being invited to speak at the event: “As a nurse for over 4 decades, it was a delight to be invited to attend this national HBA conference and speak to the volunteers about the evolving NHS and just how much what they do at hospital radio benefits people’s health and wellbeing, and supports the NHS. Despite much of the transformation and change in the NHS over the years, the core values of caring for our patients in the best way possible remains unchanged.”
Apart from his present health role in Parliament, Steve Brine in his student days used to volunteer at his then local hospital radio – Radio Lion, in Guildford – and he has known the team at Winchester Radio since 2008 so he was able to share with delegates his own first-hand experience of the positive value of hospital and health and wellbeing services for people’s wellbeing and how it supports the Prevention agenda.
Steve Brine MP said; "I loved my time volunteering at hospital radio and am a huge fan of Winchester Radio. The whole bringing together of hospital and community broadcasting with the health and wellbeing agenda makes so much sense. It was a privilege to deliver a keynote at the conference."
Five of the volunteers at charity Winchester Radio were involved in supporting the Conference in Winchester this year – helping the national conference team with planning, technical support on the day, and/or delivering some of the training session Talks to delegates.
Chair of Winchester Radio, Anna O’Brien said: “We were really excited to be able to help HBA bring this year’s Conference to Winchester, and so pleased it was held at our neighbour – the University of Winchester. The annual conference is always a wonderful opportunity for volunteers involved in hospital, health and wellbeing radio stations to come together and share ideas on how best we can serve our communities. And it was absolutely fantastic to have Julie Dawes and MP Steve Brine attend to give such engaging, knowledgeable and inspiring keynote speeches.”
Pictured: Steve Smette ( Interim Chair HBA ); June Snowden ( Past President HBA ), Steve Brine MP, Anna O'Brien, Chairman, Winchester Radio
