In this episode, Dr Peter Brindle is joined by Olivia Crossing and Annie Taylor, both experienced NHS nurses and co-founders of RateMyShift, an award-winning digital platform that gives NHS staff a real-time voice about their working day.

RateMyShift is a continuous feedback platform designed to prompt meaningful conversations between line managers and colleagues in real-time. Starting life as a box of smiley faces on a staff notice board, it evolved into an Excel spreadsheet and a QI project, and then into the digital communication platform it is today. Built for healthcare staff, by healthcare staff, it is a tool that can be used to identify problems early within a health and care setting, to stop them from developing into bigger, unresolved problems in the future.

We explore RateMyShift's origins and evolution, and Annie and Olivia's dynamic together as co-founders. We talk about how hierarchy creates communication gaps that managers may not even be aware of, and also of the crucial role of coaching in helping managers turn data into change. Underpinning all of it is a simple concept that staff who feel heard and valued are better able to give patients the care they deserve. RateMyShift sits in the gap between intent and improved experience.

Find out more about RateMyShift: https://www.ratemyshift.app/

Stay healthy and take care!

Rebuilding Identity: Inside the Bristol 3D Medical Centre with Lead Reconstructive Scientist Amy Davey

Imagine losing part of your face, your smile, or even your identity and then meeting a team who can help you rebuild it. In this remarkable on‑site episode, hosts Marc Griffiths and Peter Brindle take listeners inside the groundbreaking Bristol 3D Medical Centre, the first NHS facility in the UK to bring 3D scanning, digital modelling and 3D printing together under one roof to transform patient rehabilitation.

Our guest, Amy Davey, Lead Reconstructive Scientist and Lab Manager, guides us through the full journey: from ultra‑precise facial scanning to digital sculpting, from high‑tech resin and PEEK printing to the traditional hand‑crafting of prosthetics even down to the Singer sewing machine used to tailor bespoke silicone garments.

More than a technological deep dive, this episode explores the emotional and therapeutic dimensions of reconstruction. Amy shares powerful patient stories, including individuals rebuilding confidence after cancer treatment, trauma, or congenital differences, and reveals how a prosthesis can do far more than restore appearance it can help restore confidence and someone’s identity.

Along the way we discuss:

• How the Centre supports patients from infancy to older age
• The fusion of artistry, engineering and clinical care in modern prosthetics
• The evolution and future of 3D‑printed medical devices in the NHS
• The vital psychological aspects of appearance, identity and rehabilitation
• The Centre’s growing partnerships with universities and robotics researchers
• What ‘brilliant’ looks like for the next five years of innovation

This is an inspiring and empowering episode that showcases innovation in practice, delivered with compassion. A must‑listen for anyone interested in health, technology, engineering, patient experience, or the future of personalised medicine.

To learn more about the Bristol 3D Medical Centre and explore examples of their work, follow the link in the episode description.

https://www.nbt.nhs.uk/our-services/a-z-services/reconstructive-prosthetics/bristol-3d-medical-centre

In this episode of Let’s Talk Health and Care, Marc Griffiths and Peter Brindle explore the hidden complexities of the blood supply chain and the radical innovations that could transform it.

Our guests in this episode, Professor Wendy Phillips, Dean for Research and Enterprise, and Dr Helen Sanderson, Senior Research Fellow, both from the College of Business and Law at UWE Bristol, share insights drawn from a decade of pioneering research into redistributed manufacturing and next‑generation blood products.

Together, they discuss:

• Why the blood supply chain is far more vulnerable and complex than most people realise
• Their work to address battlefield blood supply challenges
• Emerging innovations including walk‑in blood banks, freeze‑dried plasma, and lab‑grown red blood cells
• Ethical and cultural questions around artificial versus donated blood
• How military‑driven innovation could strengthen resilience across the NHS and civilian healthcare
• What the next 5–10 years could look like as technology reshapes how and where we manufacture blood

This episode offers a fascinating look at the future of life‑saving care, from regulation to innovation pipelines to the possibility of “better‑than‑natural” blood.

The Redistributed Manufacturing in Healthcare Network: ⁠www.RiHN.org.uk