11. Professor Lesley Page, talking about today’s #MarchWithMidwives

Wild Card - Whose Shoes?

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 awareness of the issues around the country. I'm looking forward to joining my local event in Coventry. I wanted to talk to someone who I really respect and who will be able to speak freely about this important topic. Only one person came to mind. And I'm delighted she immediately said "yes", it's my enormous pleasure to introduce this week's podcast guest, the legendary Lesley Page, CBE.
Lemon lightbulbs with Lesley 🍋💡🍋

• The power of walking in other people’s shoes, seeing different perspectives
• Humanising birth, humanising health care, what could be controversial about that?
• Core values shared across specialties
• Personalised care, dignity and respect, choice and control
• We need to support midwives (and all healthcare professionals) to be the best they can be, so they can look after others
• We are all born. This is the start of human life. There can be nothing more important.
• Learning and understanding internationally, as well as in the UK
• Childbirth is so much more than a medical event. It is the foundation of the family, the future of society
• Continuity of carer brings relationships and trust and supports women to have choice and control
• Strong advocacy and support can help reduce health inequalities
• It's only by having open, honest, respectful conversations between people with different viewpoints that real progress can be made
• The ‘shorthand of friendship’ makes everything work so much better
• Being on the other side of the fence is a shock when it comes to navigating complex systems!
• You need mental space to be able to make systems change; too difficult when fire-fighting
• There is a gap between theory and practice - needs to be doable within resources available
• The power of connections
• Creating the conditions for open and honest conversations is key
• Everyone wants to feel listened to
• We have to be able to recruit and retain staff, and keep them happy, before we can provide a top quality service
• Support staff to be the best they can be
• Baroness Cumberlege is awesome!
• Hearing from women and families about good care and less good care, and what matters to them, is energising
• Good childbirth and maternity experience is about the next generation – the ability to form positive human relationships
• The #First1001Days and supporting new families
• People want to go the extra mile! People who are burnt out can't do this!
• The small things are the big things
• If you have the right intention, things won't go too far awry
• Whose Shoes can make a difference to patient safety internationally (Alice Ladur’s PhD work in Uganda)
• Open new conversations that need to happen; break taboos
• People need a safe space to talk
• We need to get people talking across the divide – to prevent things forking in completely different directions

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Hoofdstukken

1. 11. Professor Lesley Page, talking about today’s #MarchWithMidwives (00:00:00)

2. Introducing the legendary Lesley Page, CBE and the #MarchWithMidwives (00:00:45)

3. Humanising birth, humanising health care (00:02:37)

4. Sharing core values across specialities - dignity and respect, choice and control (00:03:31)

5. MarchWITHmidwives so they can be the best they can be the best (00:04:36)

6. The start of human life – what can be more important? (00:05:14)

7. A long and dedicated career in midwifery (00:05:52)

8. Learning about humanising birth, initially in Brazil (00:06:22)

9. Humanising gets away from polarisation to bring people together (00:08:10)

10. Childbirth, and the bond between the baby and the parents, is the foundation of future generations (00:09:00)

11. Humanising maternity services, optimising interventions (00:11:22)

12. A changed world view: health and well-being now and in the long-term; hope for the future (00:11:53)

13. Moving away from fragmented services; the power of Continuity Of Carer (00:14:10)

14. Relationships, trust and friendship (00:15:05)

15. The role of the midwife (00:16:29)

16. Reducing health inequalities (00:16:54)

17. Create personalisation within the NHS – a wonderful but huge and complicated system (00:17:20)

18. Building trust and understanding within maternity teams (00:18:00)

19. Maternity Voices Partnerships and coproduction (00:18:33)

20. We are at a fork – which way will we go? The need for open honest, respectful conversations (00:19:03)

21. The ‘humanisation route’ seems to make a lot of sense?? (00:20:27)

22. ‘The power of getting to know each other, so you can use the shorthand of friendship’ to find out what matters to people (00:21:17)

23. The NHS can be unwieldy and difficult to navigate (00:22:44)

24. Continuity of care as the default - but it’s not easy (00:23:23)

25. Pressures on midwives and midwifery services (00:24:45)

26. ‘Wrapping the women around with care’ (00:27:00)

27. The gap between theory and practice – and how to make it happen! (00:27:40)

28. The power of connections to make things a little bit more doable (00:28:48)

29. Whose Shoes approach cuts through ‘pseudo teamwork’ and starts to work at human scale (00:30:36)

30. True coproduction. Our visual recorders capture the true story! Authentic- we don’t paper over the cracks! (00:32:22)

31. Hallelujah. Someone is listening! (00:34:00)

32. We have to be able to recruit and retain staff, and keep them happy, before we can provide a top quality service (00:34:44)

33. Humanising childbirth is about making things right for the staff as well as the women and families (00:35:11)

34. #MarchWithWidwives is about supporting midwives to give of their very best (00:35:20)

35. Hearing from the experiences of women and families – good care and less good care – is energising! (00:36:50)

36. This is about the next generation – and how they form positive human relationships! (00:38:00)

37. The government needs to know this! (00:38:43)

38. #The First1001Days - indeed joining things up for families with preschool children (00:39:25)

39. We need more support for partners (00:39:51)

40. Going the extra mile – if you are not burnt out! (00:40:08)

41. The small things are the big things (00:40:55)

42. If you have the right intention, things will not go too far awry (00:42:07)

43. Gill is super proud of Dr Alice Ladur – using Whose Shoes with men in Uganda to improve safety (00:42:41)

44. Whose Shoes brings out the problems – so that people can discuss them authentically and work together for solutions (00:43:50)

45. The changes in Uganda - opening conversations that need to happen (00:44:21)

46. Midwives need a safe space to talk (00:44:50)

47. Let’s open that can of worms! Let’s bring people together – not forking in completely different directions (00:45:45)

48. So, let’s support midwives to always give of their best! (00:46:00)