Event Overview
Audience: VODG Member Operations Directors (Adult Social Care Providers)
(This should be the most senior person in your operations team.)
This invitation-only roundtable brings together Operations Directors for a confidential, peer-led discussion focused on maintaining high-quality, safe and resilient services under sustained operational and regulatory pressure.
Co-produced with VODG and led by Dan Gower-Smith, VODG Ops Directors' Network Co-Chair and Group Director of Operations, Quality and Practice at Avenues, alongside Delphi Care, a specialist service provider working with care organisations, the session is grounded in real operational experience rather than theory or compliance-driven discussion.
Roundtable Theme
Supporting High-Quality Care Under Pressure: An Operational Perspective
Operations Directors are at the frontline of balancing workforce instability, rising acuity, financial constraint and regulatory scrutiny — often simultaneously. This roundtable creates space to explore how those pressures surface in day-to-day operations and how leaders respond when services come under strain.
The discussion will focus on practical realities rather than best-practice models, enabling honest reflection and shared learning with peers facing similar challenges.
Key Discussion Areas
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Where operational pressure shows up first
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Workforce stability, leadership capacity, increasing complexity of need, cost pressures and system dependencies.
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Regulatory pressure as lived experience
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Preparing for CQC inspection while running services, receiving a less than Good rating (RI or Inadequate), and leading teams through enforcement activity.
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Organisational learning and risk containment
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Supporting challenged services while protecting organisational stability, and translating regulatory feedback into meaningful improvement elsewhere.
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Serious incidents and external scrutiny
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Responding to incidents, sustaining teams under prolonged scrutiny, and maintaining improvement once attention fades.
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Sustaining quality under strain
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Early warning signs of fragility, maintaining grip and oversight, and balancing consistency with flexibility across services.
While not an inspection-preparation session, the roundtable will naturally explore how operational decisions shape experiences and outcomes within Safe and Well‑Led domains.
Format & Approach
Delphi Care will open with a short operational context-setting example drawn from its work alongside providers during periods of regulatory pressure and recovery. The remainder of the session will be an open, facilitated peer discussion.
The tone is deliberately reflective, grounded and collaborative, creating a trusted space for candid conversation among senior operational leaders. To protect this environment, participants are asked to engage as peers rather than as representatives of products or services.
Event Details
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Date: 24 June 2026
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Time: 12.00pm – 2.30pm BST
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Venue: The Ivy Spinningfields Brasserie, Manchester
Lunch will be provided.
Who Should Attend
This event is designed specifically for Operations Directors within VODG member care provider organisations who want to engage in strategic, experience-led discussion with peers in a trusted, sales-free setting.
Places are limited to support meaningful discussion and are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
