Wild Card - Whose Shoes?

Building on last week’s extremely popular episode with Rachel Tomlinson, this week I am chatting to Janina Vigurs, one of the parents I had the privilege of interviewing for the amazing Newbold Hope conference. Janina spoke from the heart about her experience of parenthood and her daughter who has been diagnosed with autism, and what she has learnt through the supportive Newbold Hope community. As...

In the words of Yvonne Newbold MBE: “Whatever you're doing, please stop and find 35 mins to listen to this fabulous conversation between 2 of my favourite people. Listening to Rachel talk about the simplicity of kindness and empathy in transforming schools to welcome, include and make every child feel safe blew me away” (Learn more  about Yvonne’s fantastic work at Newbold Hope in Episode 13)...

Yesterday, my good friend Florence Wilcock, creator of the wonderful 'The Obs Pod' podcast series which follows her life and work as an obstetrician, published a fascinating episode called 'Awards', mainly talking about the growing culture of awards in the NHS. It is thought-provoking and real - I thoroughly recommend it. Without wanting to give too much of a 'spoiler&apos...

'Whose Shoes' looks at issues from different perspectives. But what weight, do those  perspectives have? Lived experience, learned experience? Is your version of what happened a ‘medical report’, regarded as evidence, but my version just anecdotal, a ‘patient story’? What is regarded as admissible or inadmissible evidence? Miles Sibley is editor of  Patient Experience Library and  fab we...

Today would have been my Mum’s 100th birthday. Wow! For those of you who used to enjoy tweeting with her @GIlls_Mum, this is a bit of a trip down memory lane. A bit of a self-indulgence, getting a chance to chat about Mum, what made her tick, some snippets from our recorded conversations together ... and a String Quartet! We dip in and out of health care - in the shoes of someone who really didn&a...

Today I'm talking to Angela Cornwall, with thanks to Carol Munt (Episode 7) for introducing us! Angela uses her experience as a family carer to make great things happen. She designed a ‘passport to care’ to make sure clinicians have exactly the information they need to deal with a rare condition, such as Diamond Blackfam anaemia which Angela’s daughter has. I love it when people  come up with...

Gill Phillips @WhoseShoes reflects on a week of gathering ideas and examples around the use of music in storytelling, listening to 'ordinary' people and spreading best practice. Celebrating 'ordinary' people who are not so ordinary. Lemon lightbulbs 🍋💡🍋 Creativity and music are powerful ways of reaching new audiences, or reaching 'old' audiences in new ways Wild Ca...

Today I am talking to #LadyLXA. Cristina Serrão,  host of Lemonade Radio,. Cristina pushes the boundaries and uses lived experience to drive positive change. Expect the unexpected from this energy-packed, inspirational podcast guest. Cristina is in the Shaw Trust Power 100 and a fantastic role model, raising the profile of disabled people. Cristina  shares some of her personal  challenges, and som...

Gill Phillips and Florence Wilcock, co-founders of the powerful #fMatExp social movement, talk about the coproduction work they have done together since 2014. To make this manageable in 30 minutes, they choose a small but hugely important area of their #MatNeoQI work, which has so much potential to improve the lives of new families when their baby needs neonatal care.  We talk here about women and...

In today’s episode, I’m bringing together 2 people who are literally meeting for the 1st time.  A world-exclusive #IntentionalCoffee podcast! For those who are old enough, think Cilla Black … My podcast guests have never previously seen each other or spoken in any way. But they share a passion for midwifery and I think they’re gonna ‘gerralong’.  Gaynor Armstrong, Director of Midwifery, UHCW in Co...

Family Integrated C are makes a huge difference to families when their baby is in neonatal care. Today I am talking to Nadia Leake and Rachel Collum, two mums who have had babies in neonatal care, and are doing wonderful work in this area. In a nutshell “Parents and babies need each other and must stay together, with their relationship nurtured and supported from the very beginning throughout the...

Today's guest, Rachel Jury, is winner of the National Diversity Award 2018 for positive role model for disability. She tweets as @Rocking2Stomas, and refers to herself as one of the community of ‘Double Baggers’.  I’m looking forward to helping break a few more taboos by hearing Rachel's story today.  Lemon lightbulbs  🍋💡🍋s We all need purpose – it is not about ‘catastrophising’, it i...

Happy New Year! I'm kicking off 2022 by talking to the person who helps bring our Whose Shoes events alive and ensures they have lasting impact. Our combined approach to coproduction has been described as magic. One and one definitely equals more than two. Anna Geyer, Director of New Possibilities , is my long-term friend and partner in crime.  We look back at what we've achieved togethe...

Welcome to WildObs – A Mash-up of  'The Obs Pod' and  'Wild Card - Whose Shoes' podcasts as a 2021  Christmas special !! #MatExp co-founders Gill Phillips, creator of 'Whose Shoes' and my good friend #FabObs Florence Wilcock, chatting about our advent / musical adventures over the years.   🍋💡🍋 CROWDSOURCED FILMS #MindNBody Advent videos, 2018 – perinatal mental hea...

This is a very special podcast for me - a story I was really keen to capture as it deserves a large audience. Today I am speaking to Dr Alice Ladur, who has used my Whose Shoes board game in her PhD project in Uganda, working with men to bring about culture change and improve maternal and the enable outcomes. It is a very powerful story and the immediate changes and outcomes are extraordinary. The...

Today, I'm talking to my good friend Yvonne Newbold, MBE, founder of Newbold Hope. Smashing taboos and giving hope to families, reducing anxiety-led difficult and dangerous behaviours in children and young people with additional needs and disabilities.  Lemon lightbulbs 🍋💡🍋 Please see the chapter headings! Struggling with the word count this week and we prioritised sharing links:   Yvonne’...

Today is #FabChange21 - the Fab Change 21 Festival -  and how better to celebrate this than to chat with Dr Terri Porrett, otherwise known as ’The Blonde.’  You can find out more about 'being blonde', and how it relates to quality improvement, during the podcast! Gill Phillips will be running a 'Whose Shoes - Poet's Corner' as part of #FabChange21 - you can pitch up and jo...

Today I am talking to  Prof Lesley Page, CBE, an internationally respected voice of  midwifery! As co-founder of #MatExp, the social movement to improve maternity experience, improving maternity is very close to my heart.  It's well known that there's a growing problem at the moment around the shortage of midwives, and other pressures. #MarchWithMidwives has been arranged to raise awaren...

So, who would have thought it? We've got to 10 episodes already. So I thought I'd do something a little bit different and stop and reflect on my podcasting journey so far. The short version is: 'I'm loving it'! ... but it has had its share of excitement, a few ups and downs,  and with lots of learning along the way. The one thing that is certain is that I am not short of i...

Today I'm talking to Rachael Grimaldi, co-founder of the multi-award-winning CardMedic®  and one of the most inspirational movers and shakers I've ever met. CardMedic is a brilliantly simple and unique digital communication tool. Rachael is a mum of three young children, a NHS clinical entrepreneur, and an anaesthetist.  She is also a lovely warm, generous human being, always connecting...

Children's author, community and charity whizz, fund-raiser and so much more ... Rachael and I hope you enjoy our Halloween Special in which we explore whether creativity and innovation in health care and beyond needs to be .... SCARY! Lots of lemon lightbulbs! 🍋💡🍋 See 'chapter headings' for more detail and to pick out your favourite bits,  including: Ghosts – don’t be scared by...

Today I talk to Carol Munt, one of the HSJ top 50 ‘patient leaders’ in the country. I love Carol’s  common sense approach to quality improvement in health care.  Carol has many different hats, including her own lived experience, looking after her mum with dementia and being a nurse in A&E!  I think this episode contains a lot of wisdom, so a great contribution to this podcast series which aims...

Today we are walking - or should I say running -  in the shoes of Joan Pons Laplana. Joan is one of the most interesting JFDI people I know. We all want to support the NHS, but Joan adds fun and creativity, so that we can all feel part of his adventures. Joan has just run the London Marathon , dressed as a pint of Guinness, raising money for Cavell Trust - supporting nurses at times of hardship. J...

In the early part of the pandemic, early summer 2020, we ran a series of #VirtualWhoseShoes sessions, sharing innovative best  practice during the pandemic and exploring the particular challenges faced by different groups of people.  The work was influential and led to a lot of interesting speaker opportunities, as well as helping  people ( including us!) realise that we could keep our core busine...

My first #MatExp guest! Huge thanks to busy mum (and so much more!) my friend Leanne Howlett for sharing her experience of perinatal mental health and how she is using it to help others. We are hoping this episode will be influential in raising awareness and spreading some of the, often very simple, ideas that we discuss. Please give us some feedback. We are really hoping to build the conversation...