Step into someone else’s shoes with the Health Foundation at NHS Expo Second outing for immersive ‘Mile in My Shoes’ exhibit following debut at NHS Confed conference

The Health Foundation will be at Health and Care Innovation Expo 2016 this week with its innovative exhibition designed to help foster empathy with people working in health and social care (Stand 65).

‘A Mile in My Shoes’, developed with The Empathy Museum, allows visitors to hear stories from people across health and social care, while literally walking a mile in their shoes.

The collection of audio recordings showcases a wide range of roles comprising frontline jobs like pharmacist, GP and paramedic, to some less visible positions such as finance director, HR manager and porter. It showcases the remarkable diversity of people and positions that contribute towards the nation’s health and health care – including a social prescriber, carer and cardiac physiologist.

The exhibition made its debut at the NHS Confederation conference in June, where more than 200 delegates took part. Participants annotated polaroid photos of their chosen shoes at the end of the experience, which showed the emotion and inspiration they felt from listening to the stories.

Commenting on the second outing of ‘A Mile in My Shoes’ Cathy Irving, Director of Communications at the Health Foundation, said: “We embarked on this creative initiative to help build empathy with those working in our unique health and social care system. NHS Expo will give health leaders and decision makers another opportunity to walk in someone else’s shoes while listening to their story.

“After the overwhelmingly positive feedback from the Confed event, we look forward to bringing this experience to an even wider audience. The stories, many of which are incredibly moving, show the remarkable contribution made by people across the sector, against the backdrop of some significant challenges.”

The next venue for ‘A Mile In my Shoes’ will be the House of Commons. From 31 October to 3 November, Members of Parliament and their visitors will be able to take part in the exhibition in the Upper Waiting Hall.

To explore the audio stories online, visit: listen.health.org.uk.