Digital Health Networks chairs to keynote at Rewired 2026

The chairs of the Digital Health Network advisory panels, Hayley Grafton, Amy Freeman and Penny Kechagioglou, will keynote at Digital Health Rewired 2026.

The all-female panel of chairs, elected in June 2025, lead the national chief clinical information officer (CCIO), chief information officer (CIO) and chief nursing information officer (CNIO) advisory panels (APs), which make up the UK’s largest connected community of digital health professionals.

Grafton, CNIO at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, is at the forefront of digital nursing actively working to develop a digitally enabled NHS workforce.

She played a key part in the 10 year health plan working group for people and has led calls for the NHS to be bolder and more ambitious in driving change.

Grafton is a graduate of the NHS Digital Academy, Digital Health Leadership programme and currently serves as chair of the Digital Health CNIO Advisory Panel.

Kechagioglou, CCIO at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, was recently named Digital Health CCIO of the Year.

Balancing roles as a chair of the CCIO AP, a digital leader, chief medical officer and consultant clinical oncologist, she champions safe, meaningful innovation through empowered digital clinical leadership.

Digital Health’s CIO of the Year Freeman, chief digital information officer at University Hospital of North Midlands NHS Trust, has led pioneering digital projects and was a standout speaker at last year’s Rewired.

The CIO AP chair has been a senior lead for more than 20 years and advocates for NHS provider organisations to be closer to frontline care.

The trio will speak on the new two-day Digital Leadership stage, where the best CCIO, CIO and CNIO and industry leaders will share their views on developing leadership professions, experience from workforce transformation and innovation.

They are the latest speakers confirmed for Rewired 2026, the UK’s leading digital health conference, bringing together names from the health sector and digital innovation to share insights, experiences and opportunities.

The expanding speaker line-up includes NHS England speakers Minal Bakhai, director of primary care transformation, Alec Price-Forbes, national CCIO, and Helen Balsdon, national CNIO.

Other keynotes already announced include Beverley Bryant, chief digital officer at Dorset Providers, Dr Jennifer Dixon, chief executive at The Health Foundation, Dr Jessica Morley of the Digital Ethics Center at Yale University, and Dr Charlotte Refsum, director of health policy at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.

The co-headline sponsors for Rewired26 are The Access Group and Optum, who also sponsor the Integrated Care and Digital Transformation stages respectively. The event takes place on 24-25 March 2026 at the NEC in the Birmingham.

Book your place now to attend Rewired26. Free for NHS, public sector, charities, research and education. Commercial tickets start from £769+VAT.