About MatExp

Our NHS FAB Stuff ‘Whose Shoes’ collection! :)

15 September 2022 by Gill Phillips / #MatExp Actions, About MatExp, Evidence of #MatExp outcomes, Maternity Review, The #MatExp Journey, Whose Shoes / Comments Off

Huge thanks to the fab(!) ‘FAB NHS Stuff’ team for setting up a dedicated ‘Whose Shoes’ collection to collate and share some of the FAB stuff that we do, including many #MatExp examples.

The collection is growing! Have a browse – you are bound to find lots of easily transferable ideas that will work for you, not least in our various booklets of case studies.

https://fabnhsstuff.net/fab-collections/matexp

Please then let us know if the outcomes from YOUR Whose Shoes’ project are missing.

Dr Terri Porrett and the rest of the FAB team are very keen to collect and share ... so, don’t be shy!!!

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#MatExp Whose Shoes – RCOG case study on coproduction

15 September 2022 by Gill Phillips / About MatExp, Evidence of #MatExp outcomes, Nobody's Patient, The #MatExp Journey, Whose Shoes / Comments Off

We are delighted that the RCOG has included a case study about our ‘Whose Shoes’ work in maternity and neonatal services in their recent Workforce Report 2022.
Please see Page 68.

RCOG Case study, Feb 2022 – Whose Shoes – coproduction with women and families. #MatExp

RCOG workforce-report-july-2022-update Download

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What have the Romans ever done for us? – #MatExp – Real evidence! As at end 2018

31 December 2018 by Gill Phillips / #MatExp Actions, #MindNBody - holistic care, About MatExp, Evidence of #MatExp outcomes, The #MatExp Journey, Whose Shoes / Comments Off

It’s a big day for #MatExp #MindNBody launching new material @RCObsGyn perinatal mental health conf. We wondered what we all may have achieved through #MatExp energising #maternity conversations https://t.co/2q7P0qA4o9 what have the Romans’ ever done for us… ?
— Flo W (@FWmaternity) December 14, 2018

As more and more people join the fabulous #MatExp community, they may not know the origins of #MatExp, co-founded by Florence Wilcock and Gill Phillips in 2014.

People may not realise that we published the original Whose Shoes? scenarios and poems at the beginning of 2015, before maternity hit the national spotlight and the national maternity review was announced.

The resources were used at all the national maternity review listening events and helped enrich and shape the conversations that led to ‘Better Births’.

People ask for ‘evidence’ of what #MatExp Whose Shoes? has achieved…

And so we bring you our #MatExp 12 Days of Christmas, published in the lead up to Christmas 2018, summarising some of the biggest achievements and outcomes to date. We have helped serve as catalysts. The big achievements have only happened because fantastic people have come together and found that individually we can all make a difference, but TOGETHER we can ‘be the change’.

Each of these ‘things that #MatExp brought us’ has a story behind it; sometimes a big one. Who knows, one day we might get round to writing THAT book. But in the meantime, this is all we have time for. So if you want to know more, please join #MatExp. And most importantly, keep adding to the story. These small or large individual contributions are how positive change will keep happening.

Remember those heart values – all of us working together to improve maternity care. Thank you!

Flo Wilcock and Gill Phillips

MatExp 12 days of Christmas Day 1

Intra partum care

MatExp 12 days of Christmas Day 2

Slider for website – pmh coming soon- 660

MatExp 12 days of Christmas Day 2a

1st draft – design – NP poem – theoretical mummy – Copy

MatExp 12 days of Christmas Day 3

Graphic – find out what people want

Don’t forget the Dads – Copy

IMG_4124

MatExp 12 days of Christmas Day 4

May the fourth – Bristol

#MatExp Whose Shoes Bristol event – short clip

MatExp 12 days of Christmas Day 5

Better Birth report

Baroness Cumberlege – WS – Copy

Continuity- WS selection Cumberlege

safe and personalised care

MatExp 12 days of Christmas Day 6

IMG_9926

MatExp 12 days of Christmas Day 7

London Ambulance banner with shoes

MatExp 12 days of Christmas Day 8

MatExp 12 days of Christmas Day 8a

Galway 2 – Copy

MatExp 12 days of Christmas Day 9

RCOG mag – front cover

RCOG mag – double page

MatExp 12 days of Christmas Day 10

Case studies – 2 booklets with shoes

Flo receives toolkit and card – Copy

MatExp 12 days of Christmas Day 11

Expo – Matexp the Musical – Copy

#MatExp the Musical taster – NHS Expo 2017

Expo postits slide – pmh

Gill, Jo, Cyril – Taunton

MatExp 12 days of Christmas Day 12

Lithotomy challenge graphic

Digity

File 25-01-2016, 22 36 20

Actions – NHS CD – Copy

#MatExp heart values

Different perspectives – Copy – Copy

#MatExp bakeoff – Copy

Lin ward Warwick StopNCelebrate

Fun – Copy (3)

Gill with baby – Cumbria

MindNBody – 3 regions

Graphic – small things make a difference

File 25-01-2016, 01 28 24

How would you feel?

Anyone can make chage – women and families slide

Language matters!

#MindNBody
And, new for 2019, our #MindNBody campaign – using new crowdsourced
Whose Shoes? scenarios and poems to spark crucial conversations around perinatal mental health. A holistic approach, looking to improve the experiences of women and families, including prevention and early intervention. The resources were launched at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in December 2018 and a diverse mix of people involved in the project made a two minute video for the days of Advent, which are compiled into a single film here:

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#MindNBody – Advent 2018

30 December 2018 by Gill Phillips / #MatExp Actions, #MindNBody - holistic care, About MatExp, Evidence of #MatExp outcomes, The #MatExp Journey, Whose Shoes / Comments Off

In December 2018, we were proud to launch our new #MindNBody Whose Shoes? resources – the third in our series of major #MatExp projects to improve maternity care and help people to focus on a holistic ‘Mind N Body’ approach to maternity experience.

The whole thing is crowdsourced, with scenarios and poems contributed about a very large wide range of issues, and from all perspectives.

At the last minute, we got the idea to crowdsource videos from some of the people who’d been involved, as a #MindNBodyAdvent series. Take a look at the hashtag on Twitter . It was very organic and came together better than I dared hope , with lots of fantastic people volunteering to join in .

Here we have collected them into a single video and I hope they give you a feel of the depth and variety of the project.

The new resources are currently going out to over 50 NHS trusts and we hope will support conversations to improve experiences of women and families everywhere .

A Happy New Year to all – hoping 2019 will be another year of positive, action-focused #MatExp change and looking forward to working with everyone to get the most out of the brand new material.

Gill Phillips and Florence Wilcock

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The #MatExp #FabChange70! – 70 random examples of ‘fab stuff’ (9 Aug – 17 Oct)

9 August 2018 by Gill Phillips / #MatExp Actions, About MatExp, The #MatExp Journey, Whose Shoes / Comments Off

I had an idea for #NHS #FabChange70. I decided I would collect 70 different things that have happened as a result of #MatExp #WhoseShoes and share one a day until the official start date for the #FabChange70 on 17 October.

@MrWhoseShoes rolled his eyes. He knows that these things are in danger of taking over my life (and therefore our lives!) So I promised to keep it simple.

Ideally, I could perhaps have done something sophisticated, crowdsourced the best 70 ideas (there are plenty to choose from!), got different contributors to write a blog, or otherwise tell their story, every day for 70 days… 70 days is a long time and I really don’t have the time.

Apologies in advance if I do not include something important, as I’m bound to miss lots of good stuff! If there is anything you are desperate for me to be include, please get in touch and we can build it in.

So let’s keep it simple.
Let’s have some fun.
70 fab #MatExp things
And here’s the first one…

#StopNCelebrate

And what could be better to start with than #StopNCelebrate? Like most of our best stuff, this was a spontaneous idea that came from one of our #MatExp #WhoseShoes workshops.
So the aim is: 70 things that come to mind that give you a flavour of the sorts of stuff we get up to through – culminating in a Steller story that pulls it all together. Steller stories only allowed 75 pages. Therefore only one page per idea. That has to be simple! Wish me luck!

Here is the story of the workshop that led to #StopNCelebrate.

And here is the story of how #StopNCelebrate caught fire! Well done … WARWICK HOSPITAL!!

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#MatExp Whose Shoes? update

7 February 2017 by Gill Phillips / #MatExp Actions, About MatExp, Baby Loss, Birth Trauma, Continuity of Care, Language, Maternity Review, Postnatal Care, Pregnancy Complications, The #MatExp Journey, Whose Shoes / Comments Off

Some really exciting developments with #MatExp Whose Shoes? at the moment.

Bromley MSLC produced a ‘one year on’ report following up on their Whose Shoes? workshop at King’s College hospital using “I said, I did” as a framework to list all the fantastic outcomes that had come from pledges made on the day.

Language continues to be a big issue for women and families, but some great initiatives are now happening. Building on the Whose Shoes? workshops, Leeds and Colchester in particular are working on specific language challenges. I came up with a ‘Negativity Bingo’ and had great fun with my team at the NHS Fab Change Day #DoAthOn event launching #DumptheDaftWords.

I have been getting some exciting invitations to speak about building social movements and of course gave #MatExp a big shout out in my talk at the launch of #AHPsIntoAction, they have invited me back for a longer keynote session at their annual conference in June.

More hospitals are coming on board with the Whose Shoes? approach – the energy is particularly strong in London, the West Midlands and the South West regions. It has been great to present on several occasions now with Catherine MacLennan and Emma Jane Sasaru and to see people learning so much from their courageous sharing of their lived experience.

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Last Friday, 3 Feb 2017, we were invited to present a #MatExp Whose Shoes? session to get some good discussions going as part of a packed event launching #PanStaffsMTP in Stafford. We concentrated specifically on continuity and perinatal mental health. This is the county-wide transformation programme to improve maternity experience in Staffordshire to implement the national ‘Better Births’ vision. This informal film gives you a flavour.

We are proud of the crowdsourced ‘Nobody’s Patient’ project and thank everyone for your fantastic contributions. We now have over 120 new Whose Shoes? scenarios and poems and the new resources will be made available shortly to all the hospitals who were existing customers. Florence Wilcock, Sam Frewin and I are finalising the supporting toolkit and collating the case studies, ahead of our ‘wrap up’ event in March. We are trying to pull together lots of ideas for positive change, with or without a workshop. I hope you are enjoying the regular Steller stories, including Florence’s monthly reports.

Wonderful to see everyone doing such amazing work, speaking all over the place, building networks, spreading the word and generally making great things happen.

Keep up the good work!

Gill Phillips @Whose Shoes

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#MatExp competition – win a ‘Whose Shoes?’ workshop!

6 September 2016 by Gill Phillips / #MatExp Actions, About MatExp, The #MatExp Journey, Whose Shoes / 1 Comment

Launched today by Sarah-Jane Marsh

at NHS Expo…

When you think of a competition, what do you typically think of?

An application form with lots of dull questions ✅
A raffle ticket with a lucky number. Not necessarily yours. ✅
A dodgy message flashing on your phone saying you have won £1 million. Claim your prize NOW!!

Well, as many of you will know, ‘#MatExp Whose Shoes? ‘is a bit alternative. So we are giving you endless alternatives as to how you would like to enter the competition. We are not big fans of labels, boxes and standardised formats So just take a look at the link below to see the areas we would like you to think about and then let your creativity loose as a goose and see what you and your people come up with!

And if you don’t know what ‘#MatExp Whose Shoes?’ is about, where have you been for the last two years? 😉 Loads of material here on matexp.org.uk or by browsing the web. And one of these days Gill Phillips, creator of ‘Whose Shoes’ will get round to updating her website – but she has just been far too busy tweeting and building momentum on Twitter @WhoseShoes.

Please also help spread the word. We are hoping that lots of people who are not familiar with social media will get involved and will get drawn in by the MatExp magic and find that it is fun to link with others who share their passion, way beyond the confines of their department, hospital or local area.

Click the link below to download a PDF file which contains further information and an entry form. Good luck!

Entry form – Nobody’s Patient competition

Please visit this page again as we will add our launch video once it has been shown live at NHS Expo!

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Women’s Voices in #MatExp – your Antenatal Teacher

9 March 2016 by Helen Calvert / About MatExp, Informed Choice, MatExp and Me, The #MatExp Journey / Comments Off

I was asked to do a talk to student midwives at Salford University in January on the topic of “Women’s Voices” in maternity care. As part of my presentation I included the voices of the midwives who work in maternity care, and a reminder that there are many other women for whom maternity care is their professional, as well as perhaps their personal, experience. “Women’s Voices” in maternity care should cover the midwives, obstetricians, health visitors, doulas who care for us, as well as the women giving birth.

So I decided to start a series of blog posts on “Women’s Voices in #MatExp” from the point of view of those working in maternity, and this is the seventh of those. This is Fleur Parker’s experience as an antenatal teacher – thank you so much to Fleur for agreeing to write for us. You can read the other blogs in the series here:

Your Midwife

Your Doula

Your Breastfeeding Supporter

Your Sonographer

Your Obstetrician

Your Anaesthetist

And yes, I will be doing a “Men’s Voices in #MatExp” series too. Because this campaign is about all voices.

Helen.x

*********************

I am putting my head above the parapet to say I am an Antenatal Teacher.

I’m not sure why, but recently we have been getting a lot of flak. Sometimes it feels as if everything that is wrong with birth is the fault of the antenatal teachers. On Twitter famous names berate us and newspaper columnists lampoon us

So writing this piece is taking quite a lot of courage and I hope I can do us proud.

There are many, many antenatal teachers – those of us who work with expectant parents during pregnancy to help them prepare for labour, birth, the fourth trimester and the early days as a parent. We come in different sizes, shapes, colours, languages and approaches. There is not a one size fits all approach.

There are three ways to prepare for labour and birth – intellectually, physically and emotionally/mentally. In my experience it is those who prepare a little every day in each of these ways that feel most able to cope with their labour and birth experience. There are a lot of options for antenatal preparation – yoga, pilates, aqua natal, hypnobirthing, NCT classes etc.

I have absolutely no idea why I am an antenatal teacher. I didn’t go to antenatal classes myself. My son is now 20 and I think I’ve finally come to terms with the fact I am a Mother – I will not be the first in the queue to cuddle your newborn. I will however, have freshly baked cake and a lovely cup of tea and all the time you need to talk, explore and work out what the £$%^@* just happened.

I support men and women, over 1,300 have attended antenatal classes I have facilitated. First time mums, fourth time dads, same sex couples, single mums, surrogate mum and dads, young mums, old mums, surprised mums and reluctant dads. We’ve all sat together, in a circle not knowing quite what to expect.

I have taught classes on my birthday, my husband’s birthday and my son’s birthday. I’ve taught when I’ve been happy, sad, ill and well. I’ve sat before a group after finding out my mother-in-law had died, unexpectedly on the operating table, on Christmas Eve and there was still four hours of a six-hour class left – and not told them because it isn’t about me.

It isn’t about my birth experience (caesarean in case you’re wondering) and there isn’t an NCT way to have a baby (whoops I’ve let the cat out of the bag I am an NCT antenatal teacher). The way to have a baby is the way that’s right for you, in the moment.

If I have an overarching aim as an antenatal teacher it is to disrupt the story of birth. To take the perceptions of expectant parents and give them the tools and skills to reimagine, to question and to put a story together that belongs to them – nobody else. By the time people are having babies they have heard at least a couple of decades of birth stories – perhaps it’s Daphne on Neighbours whose water’s broke, contractions started and she gave birth ten minutes later still wearing her tights and with Bouncer the dog sniffing around. Perhaps it’s a documentary, a soap or in films – there is a whole generation who have grown up with the story of pregnancy and birth from Twilight!

I hear hundreds of birth stories and often as I listen I’ll be thinking ‘okay, yes I could do that, it sounds hard work but okay. I understand that and it was straightforward enough.’ But the new parent telling their story is in tears, sometimes shaking and upset. Another time the story I’m hearing is one that shocks me, where I am, quite frankly, horrified. In this case the mum or dad is happy ‘oh it was great, we had a chat with the Dr and decided to do this and that and when that didn’t work we went for the other – oh and the blood!’ It’s not hysteria or false memory it’s just that they were okay with their experience, it was, in the moment, entirely appropriate.

The research shows us that that is what matters to new parents. It is less about the actual birth or in many ways the outcome but their satisfaction of their experience and perception of outcome that is most important.

There are also parents who because of the actions of others are traumatised and angry with the care they received – feeling abused and violated. I’m not sure any of us can prepare for those eventualities. Those are the parents I spend most time with, talking, understanding, signposting …… simply listening.

During classes we share stories, knowledge and experience. We look at straightforward physiological birth and we look at birth that is anything but. We think about becoming parents, relationships, cognitive, physical and emotional development of babies. We play nappy roulette (sometimes I like to fulfil the NCT stereotype) and speed parenting. We laugh and we cry and we eat cake.

I love my job – it is my passion and my purpose and I bring to it my head, heart and soul. I make lasting connections with people who are entering a whole new phase of life and I walk alongside them.

I don’t have the answers and I don’t always get it right. But I have a lot of knowledge, rigorous CPD and I am an experienced and skilled adult educator and group facilitator. But I am not the answer and I am not the problem.

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Why Your MSLC Matters

25 February 2016 by Helen Calvert / About MatExp, Environment and Facilities, Maternity Review, MatExp and Me, The #MatExp Journey / 2 Comments

“Maternity Service Liaison Committees (MSLCs) provide a means of ensuring the needs of women and professionals are listened to and we saw how effective they could be when properly supported and led.”

National Maternity Review February 2016

“I urge you to play your part in creating the maternity services you want for your family and your community. Voice your opinions, just as you have during this review, and challenge those providing the services to meet your expectations.” (Julia Cumberlege, Chair of the Review Team, 2016)

These quotes really illustrate why MSLCs matter. They sum up why I am so passionate about maintaining and sustaining our wonderful Maternity Services Liaison Committee and helping others maintain theirs.

Because I have seen the difference a dynamic, properly supported, MSLC can make to a hospital Trust. Bromley MSLC, like its counterparts throughout the country, is a mix of individuals including commissioners, service users, midwives, doctors and other professionals coming together to monitor and improve local maternity services. The respect that everyone has for each other is evident in our meetings and some of the lightbulb ideas that arise are extraordinarily exciting. I tend to come away from meetings with my head reeling, but also tremendously grateful that we have this group of extraordinary passionate, dedicated people working and living in our area.

MSLCs were first established in 1984, enabling women to be involved in shaping the maternity care provided for them. The Department of Health suggests there should be an MSLC for each Trust in England and Wales. The Health and Social Care Act of 2012 states that health services at every level need to actively engage with service users:

Participating in planning and making decisions about their care
Enabling effective participation of the public in the commissioning process itself
So that services reflect the needs of local people.

Recommendation 13 from the 2015 Kirkup report into the Morecombe Bay Investigation also highlighted the importance of MSLCs.

MSLCs matter because…..

They are the only multi-disciplinary committee of its kind in maternity, bringing together commissioners, NHS Trust staff AND the women for whom the service is designed. One third of the committee is made up of service users, including a service user rep chair and vice chair.
They are independent NHS working groups that advise on commissioning and service development
They should include service users from all parts of the community, ensuring that all women’s voices are heard.
They promote collaboration and involvement
They plan, oversee and monitor maternity services in a local area and make recommendations for improvements where necessary.

They are one of the few examples in maternity where there is true collaboration between healthcare professionals and service users on equal terms at a local level. This leads to a much greater understanding between both parties of the challenges that are faced and the issues that really matter to local women.

The National Maternity Review also highlights the consensus among health professionals to change things for the better. Nowhere is this more evident than on an MSLC!

MSLCs can achieve amazing things:

They plan…..together with the commissioners, service users have the unique opportunity to help shape the future of the maternity services in the local area. For example, because of user testimonials provided by our MSLC to the clinical executive, a new perinatal mental pathway is being developed in our local area by the CCG, which will greatly benefit thousands of women.

They oversee……our MSLC is involved in one off projects designed to improve maternity experiences for local women. We have designed information posters, are having an input into a “Welcome to the Ward” postnatal pack and have helped improve the birth environment on the Labour Ward. We also make tours of the wards, bringing a service user perspective and a fresh pair of eyes to the environment.

They monitor……our MSLC gains feedback from women through surveys, questionnaires and Walk the Patch both in the hospital and more recently in children centre health clinics in the community. That feedback is given directly to the lead health professionals of the Trust as well as the commissioners, who listen and act on our recommendations. Those improvements are then fed back to the service users, via social media and other means, so that we close the loop.

This type of work is not just being done by our MSLC. I know of countless other committees which are tirelessly working to improve services in their local area too. Our brilliant vice chair Michelle Quashie is planning a Women’s Voices conference in October and has asked me to present the achievements of our MSLC and others around the country, demonstrating how effective collaborative working can be. I am looking forward to showcasing just what has been and can be achieved then.

At our recent Whose Shoes event pledges were made at the end of the workshop about something that the delegates would do differently as a result of that day. These pledges have formed the workplan for our MSLC for 2016 and we will check to ensure that they have been carried out. MSLCs are true examples of #MatExp in action at a local level.

We were also really pleased to see the importance of MSLCs highlighted on our beautiful graphic courtesy of New Possibilities.

For this blog I asked members of other MSLCs for their thoughts on why MSLCs matter. Responses included:

Catherine Williams has written a lot about the importance of MSLCs in her blog https://birthandbiology.wordpress.com/

And from our MSLC Leaders Facebook group:

And this from our vice-chair Michelle Quashie:

“MSLCs matter because it is gives all that are passionate about a Women’s Maternity experience a chance to join forces and make their hopes for better birthing world a reality. It enables all members to be involved in ensuring this happens. It allows true collaborative working and keeps service users involved in decisions made about women’s maternity care and that of their family. It’s a safe place where women’s voices are heard, valued and respected. A Women’s experience is its driving force for that reason I am proud to be part of such a dynamic committee.

Initiatives like ‘Walk the Patch’ enable all women’s voices to be heard regarding the maternity care they are receiving. These voices from the community can then be filtered back to senior levels and actions are derived to improve the service as a result. WTP also gives the chance for those HCP that are providing truly women entered care the recognition they deserve.

I joined the MSLC after feeling very let down buy my personal maternity care. I knew I had to help change things for other women. Being part of the MSLC has enabled me to do that from the inside out. The work we have done and the wonderful HPs I have worked with has helped to restore my faith and feel empowered by being part of making change happen for others.

I hope that MSLCs get the recognition and support for the amazing work we are doing across the country. All that give up their time, do so because they are passionate and dedicated. MSLC’s should be mediatory for all trusts. How else can you ensure a woman centred service is given without women voices being heard in order to influence that service?”

Refreshed guidelines from NHS England, due for imminent publication, call for MSLCs to be run, maintained and funded by the CCGs. This is much needed, because in the current economic climate many MSLCs are fighting for modest but essential funding to continue the collaborative work they are doing. In addition, due to the unique nature of these committees it can be difficult for the commissioners to work out a mechanism for funding.

It is against this background, while MSLCs are struggling, that Julia Cumberlege, chair of the National Maternity Review, urges women in her introduction, “play your part…for your family and community … voice your opinions” as quoted at the top of this blog. MSLCs provide an ideal forum for service users to do just that. They are the ‘best practice model’ for shaping the future of our maternity services.

A petition has been started to emphasise the need for MSLCs in all areas. Please consider signing and sharing this petition so that MSLCs can continue the vital collaborative work they are doing at a local level, with volunteers’ expenses paid and commissioners everywhere listening and learning. https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/121772

If you are not already involved with a local maternity group that feeds into an MSLC – or the MSLC itself, search online to see what you can find out about local provision. Contact your local CCG, your head of midwifery, local Healthwatch, or any pregnancy and parenting groups, such as the NCT and find out what’s happening. You can find out more about MSLCs at https://www.nct.org.uk/professional/mslcs

Laura James

Chair, Bromley MSLC

2016

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bromleymslc

Twitter: @BromleyMSLC

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What Does #MatExp Mean To You?

13 February 2016 by Helen Calvert / About MatExp, MatExp and Me, The #MatExp Journey / Comments Off

I had the privilege of hosting one of the weekly #MatExpHour Twitter chats last night, on the topic of “What Does #MatExp Mean To You?” We had already received some thoughts on this topic via the #MatExp Facebook group, and I couldn’t wait to hear what answers we had from the gang on Twitter. I was not disappointed. This campaign that Gill and Flo started has become something more than I think any of us could have imagined. It is with much delight that I share with you what #MatExp means to those involved.

Those who couldn’t make the chat were keen to get in their thoughts in advance:

Emma Jane Sasaru: “To me it embodies what I believe can happen when everyone works together to support families. It means that while many say we cannot improve things we really can. Helen Calvert and I always refer to the starfish story because if we all just make small changes they add up to big change. Always believe you can make a difference because you can.
Personally #MatExp has helped me so much. As many of you know I had PTSD from a terrible birth experience and poor care. #MatExp has given me hope that we can prevent this happening and we can make sure that families are treated with our ‘heart values’. It has helped in my healing, enabled me to meet some amazing people, make changes in my local trust and also further my work to raise awareness around perinatal mental health.
What I love is the passion, the genuine want to improve things for families and the fact that it comes from the heart. Any of you that know Gill and Flo will know this is be true. Thank you everyone and remember you can be the change you want to see.”

Gill was worried about the limitations of Twitter when it came to explaining what #MatExp means to her, but started by sharing this article from The Edge. You don’t have to ask for permission to make change!

Cathy Brewster: “What I love about #MatExp is the coming together of people from diverse backgrounds. As a parent I have been able to directly talk to midwives, obstetricians, commissioners, researchers, MSLCs etc. about homebirth and have gained unique perspective and insights from them all. And I hope they may have gained something useful from me too. #MatExp certainly made it easy for me to get our homebirth posters out there and it is wonderful to see them being used all over the place. The other thing I love about #MatExp is that it’s a platform for learning. It has opened my eyes to so many new maternity issues that I knew nothing about. So a big thank you from me to #MatExp”

I had shared some wonderful blogs in advance of the chat, this one from Emma Jane Sasaru “Why The Wonderful #MatExp Has Given Me Hope”, and this from Victoria Morgan “Reflecting on #MatExp and the Impact it is Having”.

A bit more from Facebook:

Lucy Ruddle: “I found it really useful when I was pregnant, to discuss the choices I had and why certain things were offered / what various hasty discussions with HCPs actually meant etc. So pretty much, a really useful source of good information.”

Read Gill’s Stellar story here!

Susan Parker: “Even though I haven’t been involved for the longest time, for me it’s about parents being able to share their stories and for HCPs to be able to listen and reflect. It’s about sharing information and collaborating. And at times it’s about having a bit of a debate about a certain topic – which is of course a great thing to listen to a different viewpoint that you may not have considered.
On my radar were things like compassionate care, mental health and a mother’s choice. But my eyes have been opened to way more than that because I hadn’t previously experienced those issues, but I can talk to women who have and learn from them. I feel a blog post coming on (but maybe at some point in the future!) would love to do more with #MatExp.”

Michelle’s wonderful blog post about what the Bromley MSLC #WhoseShoes event meant to her can be found here. And Bromley MSLC had got their thoughts in ahead of time:

What is is about lemons?! Find out here.

Have you seen Flo’s amazing Lithotomy Challenge? Read about it here. Amazing to see the people who got involved!

Natalie Finn: “For me it’s knowledge, understanding, support and passion. As an aspiring midwife, I want to extend & broaden my knowledge and there truly is a wealth here. As a mother of 4, I have knowledge of pregnancy/labour/birth, but simply from my perspective and reading others experiences, feedback and action taken interests me immensely. To be a well rounded midwife, I feel I need to see things from all aspects and perspectives, the mothers/families most importantly. Equally my entire maternity experience has been wonderfully positive largely down to having the same wonderful midwife for 6 pregnancies, 2 losses and 4 births over the span of 8 years!! I’m passionate about normalizing birth as a whole as well as home birth, breastfeeding (despite being a reluctant bottle feeding mum!), continuity of care. I also value the level of passion and support shown in this group. No question is too difficult, the cup of #MatExp runs over with understanding and it’s rare to find a community such as this that just so NICE!”