Professor Lord Patel of Bradford
Member of House of Lords of the United Kingdom
Our keynote speaker in 2019 was Professor Lord Patel of Bradford, chair of Social Work England and previously chair of the Mental Health Act Commission.
Professor Kamlesh Kumar Patel, Baron Patel of Bradford, was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1999. He was created a life peer with the title Baron Patel of Bradford, of Bradford in the County of West Yorkshire on 8 June 2006.
A qualified Social Worker, he worked in inner-city Bradford and then established a number of third sector agencies working with those misusing drugs and those with mental health problems; later moving to academia working with a number of universities. In March 2018, Lord Patel was appointed as the Chair of Social Work England, the regulator for all child, family and adult social workers in England.
Lord Patel was previously chair of the Mental Health Act Commission. He was a Commissioner of the Healthcare Commission and The National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse. He has over 200 publications and has authored a number of national reports including The Patel Report into Prison Drug Treatment.
Lord Patel is Senior Independent Director of the England Wales Cricket Board (ECB), appointed in 2016. He is President of the Royal Society for Public Health and the Institute of Healthcare Management; and Patron/Chairman of a number of not for profit organisations working in the health, education, social care and criminal justice sectors.
