12 May 2025

Changing the culture of dying, together

Claire Bunday, community manager at Sue Ryder Palliative Care Hub, St John’s Hospice, writes: Claire Bunday, community manager at Sue Ryder Palliative Care Hub in Bedford. During Dying Matters Awareness Week,…

8 May 2025

“You Can’t Catch Death”: Reflections from the Chaplaincy of Sarah Crane

In 2014, a young Sarah Crane walked through the doors of Milton Keynes University Hospital (MKUH) for the first time as its Chaplain. Completely new to healthcare, she was stepping into…

7 May 2025

Fighting for Life and improved care at the end of life

Brian Daniels is no ordinary playwright. His stories don’t just entertain — they challenge, confront, and compel audiences to think deeply about the kind of society we are, and the kind…

6 May 2025

The apple tree and conversations on dying

As part of Dying Matters Awareness Week, Michelle Summers writes a personal reflection on death and grief: “When I die, bury my ashes under the apple tree in the garden and…

18 July 2024

Black leaders awareness day: Alexis Keir

As a Lutonian I was honoured to be asked by BLMK Health and Care Partnership to share my thoughts on leadership for Black Leaders Awareness Day. My ties to the NHS…

23 October 2023

Celebrating ‘Saluting Our Sisters’ in Black History Month

As we enter Black History Month this year, I want to share my personal journey, which is deeply rooted in African heritage, Caribbean culture, and British upbringing. It’s a journey of…

6 December 2022

Group A Strep – What you need to know

Group A streptococcus (GAS) is a common bacteria. Lots of us carry it in our throats and on our skin and it doesn’t always result in illness. However, GAS does cause…

25 October 2022

Redesign of Musculoskeletal (MSK) services

8 June 2022

Climate change, health inequalities and a greener NHS

On the day that Milton Keynes could finally call itself ‘officially’ a city, Deputy CEO Tracy Keech and I attended a Climate Change and Health Inequalities conference at the Hotel La…

14 April 2022

5 things we learned from setting up a Health and Wellbeing Alliance in Milton Keynes

by Sonal Mehta- Partnership Lead for Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICS, Clare Walton – Chief Executive Officer at Community Action:MK and Peta Wilkinson – Chief Executive of Willen Hospice We…

8 February 2022

BLMK NHS staff playing their part to vaccinate residents

In December 2021, NHS staff from Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes (BLMK) were redeployed to the frontline of the vaccination programme to protect vulnerable residents against the Omicron variant of COVID-19.…

20 December 2021

Keeping it in the family

Over the last few months, a local family from Flitwick have rallied together to support the NHS vaccination programme in many different ways. Earlier this year Samantha Golton Scholes, a Personal…

7 December 2021

“I’ve gained my life back thanks to social prescribing”

Jamie’s life changed forever when Social Prescriber, Victoria, walked in on an unintentional suicide attempt at their initial consultation. Since then, the two have worked closely together to save Jamie’s life.…

1 December 2021

Reflecting on 2021 – Director of Adults’ Services, Bedford Borough Council

Kate Walker, Director of Adults’ Services, Bedford Borough Council It’s amazing how quickly 2021 has flown by and the ongoing pandemic has continued to be tough for all of us, but…

1 December 2021

Reflecting on 2021

Laura Church, CEO, Bedford Borough Council 2021 has been a year of real challenge, change and opportunity for me. I took on a new role at Luton Borough Council in November…