Tech Innovation in Homecare Conference 2025

Chief Executive, Homecare Association

Jane Townson is CEO of the Homecare Association. She has extensive experience in the social care, health, housing and technology sectors. Chair of the Board of Kraydel; formerly CEO Somerset Care Group; and Chairman YourLife (JV with McCarthy & Stone). Jane’s first career was in international leadership roles in research and development in ICI, AstraZeneca and Syngenta, where she was Global Head of Bioscience Research. She then established her own business providing consultancy and training on the link between lifestyle factors and public health, working with private individuals and public sector organisations.

Chair: Applied Health and Care Research; Dame Kathleen Raven
Chair in Clinical Research, University of Leeds, Leeds UK.

Carl Thompson is Professor of Applied Health and Social Care Research at the University of Leeds a core partner of NIHR SSCR@Leeds and NICHE-Leeds, an academic-care sector research partnership based on the Dutch "Living Lab" model.

Carl has led pioneering work at the intersection of health technology, implementation science, and adult social care. He is Principal Investigator of SENSITISE, a national programme exploring how older people and care professionals prioritise the features of technology-enabled care (TEC), and he has advised care providers, local authorities, and national bodies on the implementation of TEC to improve safety, quality, and independence in domiciliary and residential settings.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Carl led the first study of wearable technology enabled contact-tracing in care homes (The CONTACT trial). 

Carl’s work spans empirical research, policy influence, and implementation support — from evaluating remote monitoring for falls prevention in care homes, to shaping data-sharing infrastructures that support ethical, actionable insights from real-world care data. His focus is not only on what technologies can do, but on how and why they are (or aren’t) adopted in the human, complex systems of social care.

He is a frequent advisor to the NIHR, UKRI, and international research councils, and continues to advocate for evidence-based, user-centred innovation in homecare and community support for older people.

MSc Education, PGCPD, BSc (Hons) Professional Practice, Dip Nursing studies RGN
Director & Registered Manager StellarCare NW LTD
Championing Social Care Ambassador | Board Member, Partners in Care

Stella Shaw is a registered nurse and founder of StellarCare NW, an award-winning, nurse-led home care provider delivering complex and compassionate care across Cheshire & Wirral. With over two decades of experience in cardiology, academia, and project management, Stella blends clinical expertise with innovative models of service delivery. Passionate about reimagining home care, she leads on integrating technology to reduce hospital admissions and support people to live well at home.

Owner & CEO, 1st Homecare
Chair of the Board, Homecare Association

John’s first career was as a Chartered Accountant working in London, Madrid and Johannesburg. He then decided to move into the Care sector by buying 1st Homecare in 2012 so that he could make a real difference to people’s lives.

Since 2012 John has grown 1st Homecare which now has three offices and a Live-in service operating in Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire. Most clients are self-funders but also include clients commissioned by four different Local Authorities.

John firmly believes in the need for good regulation so that all Providers perform to the same minimum standards and believes that a key role of the Association is to work closely with the CQC, the new Labour Government and its other agencies to this end.

His spare time is taken up with the demands of two school age children, tennis, cycling and hill walking.

One Birdcage Walk

Westminster, London, SW1H 9JJ