Lynne Gaskarth, MRCVS, Drove Veterinary Hospital

Lynne Gaskarth is a Veterinary Surgeon and one of six business owners at the Drove Veterinary Hospital in Swindon, Wiltshire. Drove is a first opinion small animal practice, with a hospital and 6 branch practices. Lynne qualified from Liverpool in 1999, gained the RCVS Certificate in Small Animal Medicine in 2008, and is an advanced practitioner in small animal medicine.

Drove is an active member of XLVets UK, of which Lynne is also a Director, and Drove was the winner of the SPVS wellbeing large practice award in 2019.

Leading a team of 20 vets, Lynne continues to strongly believe that first opinion practice can provide a fulfilling clinical career as well as a satisfying work life balance and is a passionate supporter of flexible working patterns and a positive workplace culture .

Dr Abosede “GB” Ajayi, MBBS, MRCP, MSc(SEM), FRCEM,Consultant in Emergency Medicine & Consultant Sports Physician, Chair – Medical Commission, European Universities Sports Association

Abosede, better known as “GB” is a practicing A&E doctor and sports doctor and currently works as Great Britain Sevens Team Doctor (for both men & women’s squad. She has extensive expertise in NHS and sport leadership garnered from experiences across 3 Olympic Games, 4 Commonwealth Games and 5 World University Games – 3 of these as Chief Medical Officer.

GB has a proven track record in forming and leading teams within the sporting and NHS environments and is uniquely placed to apply insights from years of working at the coal face in A&E, where she works under pressure, making life and death decisions daily; to help those working under extremes of pressure and scrutiny perform to their utmost and indeed excel and flourish in such environments.

GB is able to use her passion and energy, fuelled by these experiences to facilitate others in their journey to maximising and achieving their potential – whether on the field of play, in the classroom, on the shop-floor or in the board room, with particular focus on diversity in leadership.

Kelly Paull, Clinical Psychologist, NHS

Kelly is a Clinical Psychologist working in an acute hospital NHS trust. She completed the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology in south Wales following varied pre-doctoral work placements, including offending behaviour work within the prison service and dementia research. Since 2013, she has worked for North Bristol NHS Trust in their clinical health psychology service. She specialises in long term health conditions and the effect of trauma and PTSD. She works with individuals experiencing persistent pain, hospital inpatients on surgical wards and, most recently, she has been working with a hospital staff wellbeing team in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Growing up in a veterinary household, Kelly has had links to the veterinary profession from an early age.

Carolyne Crowe BVetMed (Hons), BSc (Hons), MSc, Dip Coaching, Dip Stress Management and Wellbeing, FRCVS

Carolyne is head of training at the VDS. She is an experienced equine vet, an award-winning high performance coach, mentor, international speaker, researcher, and lecturer.  Carolyne has specific expertise and interest in creating healthy workplace cultures, positive leadership and is passionate about helping others thrive at work and in their lives.

Carolyne has a Masters degree in Workplace Health and Wellbeing, diplomas in stress management and wellbeing, personal and team resilience and was awarded Coach of Excellence accreditation and her Fellowship to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in 2020 for her outstanding contribution to the profession.

Loving a challenge, in 2017, Carolyne ran 10 marathons in 10 days raising over £100,000 for the Brooke charity.

There has been much talk of clinical improvement, check lists, and human factors alongside team wellbeing and better communication.  At the heart of all of this is ‘psychological safety’, creating a culture where people feel able to talk and believe they are listened to.  In this session we bring together a clinical psychologist working with NHS frontline staff during the pandemic, a doctor who has worked with top sports people and teams, and a Director of a large independent vet practice to discuss the importance of psychological safety in optimising performance, enhancing learning, patient safety and personal development.   Carolyne Crowe from VDS Training, a passionate advocate for psychological safety, will lead the discussion.