A buzzing conversation: Karen Dunderdale meets the It’s All About People Team

There was a real sense of excitement in the room last week as we welcomed Karen Dunderdale, Chief Executive Officer of Lincolnshire Community and Hospitals NHS Group (LCHG), for a conversation about all things Personalisation and Our Shared Agreement.

Within minutes, it was clear that Karen’s passion for this way of working runs deep.

Seeing the whole person

Karen shared stories from her early days as a cardiac nurse, including the moment she realised how powerful it is to understand not just a person’s condition, but what truly matters to them. That shift - from treating symptoms to seeing the whole person - has shaped her thinking throughout her career.

Karen was equally honest about the challenges of working in such a personalised way: the courage it takes, the persistence it demands, and why it matters so much.

Voices of lived experience

As ever, having people with lived experience in the room grounded the conversation. Janet Collins and John Day were brilliant as always - thoughtful, open, and full of insight.

John explained how Our Shared Agreement and its Five Foundations were co-produced, and how he proudly champions this approach wherever he goes.

Showcasing our work

With only an hour with Karen, we wanted to make the most of every minute. So, we shared our new interactive It’s All About People Briefing Document, designed to showcase the work we’ve been leading this year. It brings together tools, real examples, and stories that show what personalisation looks like in practice across organisations, services, and teams.

The document explores:

• Meet the Personalisation Team
• Partnership working and the four key enablers
• Relationships and involving people: Our Shared Agreement, co-production, and story collection
• Personalisation in action: The Living Well Team
• Learning and development: embedding personalisation in the workforce
• Our It’s All About People Champions
• Gloriously Ordinary Language: communicating with care
• Quality Improvement and Innovation
• Measuring what matters - rethinking productivity and outcomes
• Our reach across Lincolnshire and beyond

And yes, with so much to cover, we did run out of time, but the richness and positivity of the discussion more than made up for it. Karen left with a buzzing mind, plenty to reflect on, and with a genuine commitment to working with us going forward.

Reflections that mean the world

Karen even shared her thoughts more widely in her CEO weekly staff email, writing:

“By using population health management data and co-producing services alongside the patients that use them, the It’s All About People team are helping to shift how we deliver care in Lincolnshire and putting the patient right at the heart of what we all do. Their work helps to address the health inequalities that we know exist, supporting our staff along the way.
It is really inspirational stuff.”

Hearing our work described this way by someone with Karen’s experience and influence meant so much to the whole team.

Looking ahead

We’re genuinely excited for what comes next. As we move toward deeper collaboration with the Lincolnshire Community and Hospitals NHS Group in 2026, we’re focused on improving outcomes not only for people who use services, but for the staff who care for them too.

And, if our buzzing conversation with Karen is anything to go by, the future of personalised care in Lincolnshire is bright, and very much alive with possibility.