Whose Shoes? - Your Voice Matters - Birmingham and Solihull LMNS

We were delighted to be invited back to Birmingham to build on the powerful event that we held last summer with the maternity team at Birmingham Women's Hospital. Do you remember the event that started with the beautiful singing from B'Opera? Yes, every event is different - you might like to take a look at that film too!

This latest event was an LMNS-wide event (that's the Local Maternity and Neonatal System) and specifically giving opportunity to the University Hospitals Birmingham maternity team, who are new to the Whose Shoes? approach to co-production and quality improvement.

On one of the coldest days of the year, it was heartening to see such a fabulous and very diverse turnout of people (parents and babies, maternity staff, community and MVP representatives, a GP or two, neonatologists, a paediatrician, commissioners, policy makers and more!)

Birmingham City Football Club was a great venue and looked after us well with good food, good heating (it was -3 outside!) and the venue had good public transport and ample parking.

This film is a little longer than normal as we manage to capture some of the fantastic pledges being shared live in the room. This is a regular feature of Whose Shoes? events, but this film gives you a chance to see how passionate people are to DO something meaningful and tell others about it. People pick up on each other's actions and start to build and help each other. When we then add in the power of social media, linking people across the country, that is when the magic really happens.

Wouldn't it be great to have a Whose Shoes? Community of Practice? We just haven't got the capacity of set that up in any more formal way, so we are hugely grateful to Fab NHS stuff who offer an open invitation to everyone to share their (the clue is in the name) 'NHS Fab stuff'. And sometimes these are made into formal case studies. It is a great way of sharing best practice between teams. https://fabnhsstuff.net/fab-collectio...

I'm sure some more contributions will come from this workshop - there really were some fabulous and heartfelt pledges: reduce neonatal mortality rates; improve BSL support for women who are deaf; timely access to perinatal mental health services; set up a community bus to take key health checks out to the people ... and SO much more.

Please share the film widely as that helps spread the energy and connections which in turn helps people to stay motivated and fulfil their pledges. It is never easy! WATCH THIS SPACE!!

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST ... Look out for the special new logo that Anna Geyer, our talented graphic artist, has drawn for our celebration this year - 10 years of #MatExp, 2014 - 2024. This was our first maternity event of 2024 so the month of January celebrates #MATEXP EVENTS which are at the heart of our work.

During 2024, we will be showcasing lots of different examples of our #MatExp #WhoseShoes work across the last decade, working with over 80 NHS trusts across the UK as well as internationally - and adding a sprinkle of fun and humanity too. Often under pressure, often under-resourced, these teams are always looking to listen to women and families, act on their feedback, support and care also for their staff, and see what we can do TOGETHER to improve maternity care.