Being Better, Together

In this episode, we are joined by Dr Sapna Kudchadkar, a paediatric intensivist and anesthesiologist at Johns Hopkins. Shapna shares her inspiring journey from a clinician intially determined to avoid research to becoming the pioneer of the PICU Up! program - an initiative aimed at transforming sleep and early mobilsation in the PICU. We explore how she overcame grant rejections through tenacity and the guidance of supportive mentors. Sapna also discussed the vital importance of the interprofessinal team, the power of storytelling for advocacy, and why the three most important words in healthcare leadership are "I don't know". This conversation is packed with insights on perseverance, mentorship and spreading excellence through internationl collaboration.

More information on PICU Up! here.

Paul Stretton is a safety consultant at Quantum Safety and a friend of LFE. Paul's career so far has followed an interesting, varied path—starting out in the positive, growth-oriented world of sports coaching and education, before moving into the deficit-based world of construction and health and safety.In this conversation, we explore a range of topics, including how we understand team cultures and what leads to burnout and poor performance. We look at the concept of micro-cultures within large organizations, the importance of our cultural response to isolated "toxic acts," and how we actually "set" the tone within our teams. We also discuss the impact of expressing appreciation "upstream"—from the shop floor to managers who are often under incredible strain—and get a glimpse into how we might use sports as a helpful metaphor to improve performance in healthcare.

Sue Penlington is the sustainability lead at Holkham estate, Norfolk. Sue is a passionate, driven conservationist, with skill and expertise in helping others to experience, understand and be inspired to protect the natural world. This conversation is full of practical wisdom: we talk about the power of nature (not just as a source of awe and wonder, but also as a promoter of wellbeing and motivation); we explore how to overcome resistance to change, through trust and small wins; Sue shares the "Holkham Way", a set of behaviours like "go see" which keep people engaged; and we discuss the role of storytelling and collaboration in turning complex data into something that inspires action.

A clip from this podcast was played at the 6th LFE conference, "Wonder", in November 2025.

Dr Tamsin Holland Brown is a paediatrician, innovator and clinical lead of the NHS ⁠Clinical Entrepreneur Programme⁠. She founded ⁠Hear Glue Ear⁠ - a device and app which is transforming the lives of children with temporary hearing loss. We invited Tamsin on the podcast so others could hear her amazing story of resilience and innovation. In this conversation we cover a range of topics, including: how innovation can be born from clinical insight; personal resilience and intrinsic motivation; the power of first followers and community; the wonderful concept of child-centred design; culture change through positivity and appreciation; and information about the Clinical Entrepreneur Programme.

Professor Jane O’Hara is one of the UK’s leading voices in patient safety research. Jane is a Professor at THIS (The Healthcare Improvement Studies) Institute at the University of Cambridge, and has a wealth of experience in helping us understand safety in healthcare. In this conversation we cover a host of topics, including escalation in maternity care; resilience engineering and safety-II approaches - moving beyond error focus to understanding real work; work as imagined vs work as done; using practical tools such as FRAM; opportunities and challenges with implementation of PSIRF, the importance of conversation and shared understanding, and much more.  

In this episode of the podcast, we speak with Greg Johnston—Chief Executive of Team Evie, a charity founded in memory of his daughter. Greg’s reflections on navigating paediatric intensive care as a parent offer not only personal insight, but a compelling framework for improving care, culture, and communication across the healthcare system.

His "eight words" distil that experience into practical guidance for all of us.  There was so much wisdom in this conversation, we had to extend our recording time past the usual time limit in order to capture it all.  It was a pleasure to speak with Greg - we think you will find this conversation offers lessons worth carrying forward.

In this episode, we are in conversation with Dr Intikhab Zafurallah (Zaf). Zaf has a wide portfolio of work, including a huge contribution to charity work supporting the delivery of life-saving cardiac surgery to children for whom it would not normally be available.

Zaf's sense of mission and commitment to equity come through very strongly in this conversation. We cover topics including Zaf's personal motivation behind his humanitarian work, the ethics of decision-making in different contexts, the emotional impact of high-risk healthcare in low resource settings, how joy can flourish amid hardship, the importance of getting to know your colleagues, how we can cross-pollinate learning across very different settings, Zaf's thoughts on mentorship and training, and more.

In this episode, we are in conversation with Marina Cantacuzino, MBE: founder of the Forgiveness Project (TFP) – a charity which aims to share stories of forgiveness to build hope, empathy and understanding. TFP is an inspiring endeavour and its outputs can be found in a number of different media from exhibitions, to podcasts, to books, to radio 4 shows.  All of these are characterized by stories from real people, showing how forgiveness can lead to reconciliation, understanding, restoration.  There are some powerful examples from healthcare in TFP work.  Perhaps not surprisingly, this conversation is as much about apology as it is about forgiveness.  Are they two sides of the same coin?  In some cases yes, ,but not always.  Marina also discusses the shadow-side of forgiveness and the concept of premature forgivenss – it’s not always appropriate …but if the conditions are right, forgiveness can lead to restoration, improved well-being, a shedding of bitterness, and sense-making.

About Marina:

Marina Cantacuzino MBE is an author, broadcaster, podcaster and peace activist.  In 2004, after working for 15 years as a journalist, and as a response to the invasion of Iraq, she founded The Forgiveness Project, a UK-based charity that works with personal narratives to help people break cycles of harm and create a more compassionate world. She has produced and hosted The F Word Podcast  and in 2024 her second BBC series Forgiveness: Stories from the Frontline was aired on Radio 4.  She is currently working on a third series. The latest of Marina’s three books on forgiveness, Forgiveness: An Exploration was published by Simon & Schuster in 2022.  

This is our conversation with Dr Rana Awdish. Rana is the author of "In Shock", a critically acclaimed, bestselling memoir based on her own critical illness. She is a sought-after public speaker, delivering inspirational keynote addresses to groups ranging from professional medical societies, to members of congress, to organisations combatting homelessness. A pulmonary and critical care physician, she serves as the current director of the pulmonary hypertension programme at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan.

In this episode, I am in conversation with Fran Ives.  Fran is a rare find in the NHS - she is a Human Factors specialist.  For reasons that are hard to understand, this important discipline is not more prevalent in the NHS.  In this conversation, you will hear about a host of topics related to Fran's work, and how it overlaps and interacts with LFE, including the vast scope of human factors work, the meaning of terms "erognomics", some learnings from other industries, the use of strengths-based inquiry, and a lot more.  I think this is an interesting and inspiring conversation - let us know what you think.

Fran's podcast "All Systems Ergo" is available here: https://www.healthinnovationwestmidlands.org/our_work/all-systems-ergo-podcast-2/