Colleagues of a Bevan Exemplar who passed away aged just 48 have described the ‘lasting legacy’ of her work to reduce loneliness and boost wellbeing with virtual reality (VR).

Michelle Copeman, who died from lung cancer earlier this year, was part of the Bevan Commission’s Bevan Exemplar Programme with Sarah Beauclerk. Together they launched Connecting Realities to help people traditionally disconnected from technology to connect with others and access services – with Sarah describing Michelle as the ‘driving force’ behind its success.

Michelle, who was then a project manager with Hywel Dda University Health Board, and Sarah, director of community interest company Vere Experiences, came together in 2022 to develop Connecting Realities in collaboration with Pembrokeshire County Council and VR Inclusive Mental Health Interventions. This was the closely associated fellow Bevan Exemplar project developed in collaboration with Katherine Lewis and the Pembrokeshire Older Adult Community Mental Health Team.

The Bevan Exemplar Programme supports health and care professionals across Wales to translate innovative ideas into practice, providing training and mentoring to enable projects to improve patient care and health outcomes.

Sarah said: “The project’s success is because of Michelle. I had the concept, but it didn’t have legs until she was involved. She told us about the Bevan Exemplar Programme, and from there, everything came together. No one else has ever had such an impact on anything I’ve done professionally as Michelle, as she laid the foundation, including establishing funding routes, to allow our activity to develop from 2021 to where we are now.

“Although she moved departments quite early on, she maintained an interest and enthusiasm for Connecting Realities, even offering to test experiences two days before she died. Our project is only one example of many she made happen. In a world where it can be easy to feel powerless in the face of complex and challenging systems, Michelle’s enduring legacy shows what a positive difference one passionate and determined individual can make.”

Jess Svetz, Michelle’s line manager and close friend, said: “Michelle’s ability to bring people together, manage complexity and maintain focus on outcomes for patients and communities has left a lasting imprint on how services are designed and delivered locally.

“During her time in Pembrokeshire, she played a significant role in shaping how partners work together, particularly in community-based and intermediate care models. She had a deep understanding of legislation and policy and translated this into practical operational changes across the system.

“Michelle also played a key role in designing and delivering transformation programmes aligned to ‘A Healthier West Wales’, acting as a bridge between local delivery and regional strategy and ensuring Pembrokeshire’s voice was represented.”

Michelle, who was a non-smoker, lived in Pembroke Dock with her partner Tom and their adult children Amber and Jasper, who have consented to her story being shared.

Jess added: “Michelle was such a special person who put everyone before herself, even when she was unwell. She had such an impact on everyone’s lives and we want to show how important she was.”

Connecting Realities and the VR Inclusive Mental Health Interventions project paved the way for Ffynhonnell-Wellspring, an immersive platform for women’s health and wellbeing co-ordinated by Vere Experiences in collaboration with partners across Pembrokeshire.

The Bevan Commission is Wales’ leading independent health and care think tank. It works with health and care professionals, patients and service users, industry, academia and the third sector to challenge, change and champion thinking and practice in health and care.

You can read about the Connecting Realities Bevan Exemplar project here and find out how virtual reality is helping to reduce isolation here.

Dr Daniel Jones, Public Health Physician, Public Health Wales & Bevan Fellow

July 23, 2026

Current Situation

Obesity levels remain stubbornly high in Wales. One in eight children aged 4–5 years and one in four adults are living with obesity, contributing to preventable cancers, rising diabetes, widening inequalities, stifling economic growth and adding significant pressure to public services.

Obesity and being overweight costs NHS Wales over £500 million annually, rising to £2.5 billion when wider societal costs are included. Nearly 5,000 deaths each year in Wales are attributable to unhealthy diets. On average, 1 in 13 calories in adults come from alcohol which is also associated with a range of harms, including cancer. Alcohol harms cost Wales roughly £1 billion per year and nearly half of children admit drinking alcohol aged 13 years or younger.

Preventing overweight and obesity is beyond individuals simply moving more and eating well.  There are many layers of influences that shape the food we eat and how we move so, for population level impact, we must shift our focus upstream to address these influences.  This includes our food environment.

Why advertising matters for population health

One of the most powerful drivers of unhealthy eating and drinking is the marketing of foods high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) and alcohol, as evidenced by multiple international reviews. These products are cheap, accessible, and aggressively promoted with discounts, branding and prizes. They can be addictive in nature and rarely provide the consumer with proper information on all the risks.

This aggressive marketing is not spread out either: it is concentrated in high streets, commuter routes, deprived areas and areas with high takeaway density – places where children and young people amongst others are regularly exposed to this marketing.

In Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, an NIHR PHIRST Research study found that 74.2% of respondents in Cardiff and 60.9% in the Vale reported seeing HFSS advertising in their area. In local workshops, high levels of aggressive marketing were reported, and children were able to recall such adverts on their school runs. There was clear public support for tackling this. Further fieldwork in the region has highlighted the volume of privately owned outdoor advertising and taking the form of posters, stands and shop fronts. With a local focus on high streets, sports stadia and universities, the findings showed that between 1 in 3 and 1 in 5 adverts are for food and drink and that ¾ of these were for HFSS foods whilst only 1 in 20 showed fruit or vegetables; 1 in 13 adverts were for alcohol.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is clear that mandatory restrictions on unhealthy food and alcohol marketing reduce HFSS and alcohol consumption and improve health outcomes. When Transport for London restricted HFSS advertising, this led to reduced HFSS purchases and it is estimated that this will reduce obesity, diabetes and heart disease over time, saving millions of pounds. It also did not see a drop in advertising revenue contrary to industry predictions.

Local action is underway — but limited by the current regulatory landscape

Vale of Glamorgan Council and Cardiff Council have taken important steps by recently introducing new advertising and sponsorship policies that restrict HFSS marketing on council‑owned assets, the first councils to do so in Wales.  These policies align with WHO guidance, similar policies elsewhere and, as part of the Councils’ commitment to our whole system approach through the Good Food and Movement Framework (2024-2030) demonstrates local leadership on a key issue.

However, we estimate that local authorities control only 10–30% of outdoor advertising space in our region. The majority is owned by private operators such as telecoms companies and media groups. Without national regulation, there is the risk that HFSS advertising could simply shift to these unregulated spaces.

Following the UK Government’s restrictions on HFSS advertising on TV and online, it is expected that a large amount of HFSS advertising spend will divert into outdoor advertising. It is vital to get ahead of this. These restrictions also do not apply to alcohol.

Policy levers available to Wales

There is more to do locally, to embed our polices alongside sharing our learning with other Local Authorities. However, the biggest gains would come from:

• National regulation of HFSS and alcohol outdoor advertising to create a consistent, equitable approach across Wales that tackles all outdoor advertising at once
• Strengthening national planning policy to better enable local authorities to limit hot food takeaway density in key areas, reducing both HFSS availability and associated marketing. Evidence suggests that reducing the concentration of fast‑food outlets can help lower childhood obesity rates and reduce the clustering and impact of HFSS marketing in deprived areas.
• Strengthening licensing laws and policies for local authorities, including making public health a statutory objective to be considered in any licensing application

A strategic opportunity for national leadership

Wales has already set out a clear ambition through the Healthy Weight, Healthy Wales strategy to phase out the marketing of HFSS foods by 2030. Delivering that as soon as possible alongside action in other areas, such as planning and licensing, are crucial to supporting healthy weight.

National action would reduce obesity, reduce health inequalities, boost the economy, ease pressure on public services and create healthier food and drink environments for children, young people and adults across Wales.

By Dr Helen Howson, Director, Bevan Commission

June 15, 2026

At a time when health and social care systems are under pressure to grow, adapt and work more closely together, Sarah Kingdom-Mills, now Education Development Manager at Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW) recognised an opportunity to rethink how and where student nurses learn.

Through her Bevan Exemplar project, she led the creation of practice learning environments within care homes, helping to increase student nurse placement capacity and strengthen the integration between health and social care. The initiative sought not only to open new placement opportunities but also to raise awareness of the social care sector as a skilled, rewarding and essential part of nursing practice in Wales.

The Challenge

Access to high-quality clinical placements is vital to developing the future nursing workforce. However, health care placements are frequently over capacity while opportunities in social care remain underused. The social care sector offers untapped potential — a diverse environment where students can develop key skills in person-centred, long-term and holistic care.

There are challenges concerning placements in care homes, including limited connections between education providers and care homes, uncertainty about standards and supervision, and a lack of understanding about how social care settings could meet nursing learning outcomes.

This project aimed to overcome these barriers by developing the infrastructure, partnerships and governance needed to make placements in care homes a sustainable and high-quality option for students.

The Innovation and Impact

Working initially in Carmarthenshire, Sarah collaborated with local authorities, health boards, education providers and care home managers to design a structured model for student placements within care homes. This included developing clear processes for educational audit, supervision and assessment; aligning placements with Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) standards; and ensuring compliance with Care Inspectorate Wales requirements.

The approach demonstrated that with the right support, care homes could provide rich and varied learning experiences. Students gained valuable insight into multidisciplinary teamwork, leadership, and long-term condition management — areas often less visible in hospital-based placements.

Many students who completed care home placements went on to take up their first posts in the social care sector, helping to address workforce challenges and build confidence across the system. Feedback from participants highlighted how placements changed perceptions of social care, revealing it as a dynamic environment offering professional development and meaningful relationships with residents.

The project also benefited care homes by strengthening professional links, improving staff confidence, and increasing opportunities for collaboration on wider initiatives — such as verification of expected death and continuing education programmes.

While not defined in financial terms, the project’s value lay in its social and system-wide impact — expanding placement capacity, improving understanding between sectors, and enhancing the visibility of social care as a learning environment. The project proved that with the right support, social care can play a pivotal role in training the next generation of nurses.

Support from the Bevan Exemplar Programme

The Bevan Exemplar Programme provided the structure and tools to help shape, communicate and sustain the work. Techniques such as stakeholder mapping, elevator pitching, and the ‘five whys’ approach helped Sarah to identify key influences and articulate the project’s impact. These tools not only shaped the project design but also helped Sarah communicate its importance to senior stakeholders and national networks.

Professional Growth and Wider Influence

Participating in the Bevan Exemplar Programme gave Sarah the confidence to present at conferences, publish findings and network across Wales, building the foundations for ongoing collaboration.

“It pushed me outside my comfort zone — engaging with people from different sectors and learning how to adapt improvement tools to different contexts.”

It has also had a lasting impact on Sarah’s professional journey. It contributed to her successful Queen’s Nurse application and inspired her to take on wider leadership roles, including Regional Lead for Wales for the Queen’s Institute of Community Nursing. She continues to mentor others embarking on their own innovation journeys, often encouraging them to consider the Bevan Exemplar Programme.

Her project findings were also published in the International Journal of Nursing Practice (2024) under the title “Expanding Student Nurse Placement Activity in Welsh Care Homes: An Evaluation Study.”

“It’s given me a much wider perspective — I now think strategically about workforce and system design, not just direct clinical practice.”

Legacy and Next Steps

The pilot quickly gained momentum. What began in one local authority expanded to regional implementation across North, South-East and South-West Wales, supported through HEIW. Dedicated regional roles helped scale the model, creating consistent processes and quality standards for placements.

Although dedicated funding for these roles has since ended, the placements created remain active — now maintained through local placement teams — demonstrating the project’s sustainability and embedded value.

Sarah continues to draw on the project’s evidence to inform workforce planning and policy, advocating for social care to be recognised as a key component of nurse education. Her work has influenced HEIW’s Education and Training Plan and ongoing discussions with the NMC about commissioning models across the UK.

Conclusion

By creating practice learning environments within care homes, Sarah Kingdom-Mills’ Bevan Exemplar project has reshaped how student nurses experience social care — demonstrating its potential as a rich, high-quality learning environment and vital part of Wales’ health system.

Her work continues to influence workforce planning and policy, inspiring others to look beyond organisational boundaries and achieve change together. In doing so, it embodies the spirit of the Bevan Commission and builds a more connected, confident and compassionate workforce for the future.

By Professor Dame Sue Bailey, Bevan Commissioner