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What The HealthTech?, a podcast from Radar Healthcare, creates a space for health and social care professionals to join honest conversations about current trends, challenges in the sector and making an impact on people’s lives.
In our bi-weekly Thursday episodes, we’ll be chatting to industry leaders, inspiring organisations, and our own team at Radar Healthcare, to share insight and learn alongside you.
Listen today to discover something new, and don’t forget to subscribe!
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:41:00
Unknown
I What the hell? Listeners, I'm your host. This week Paul Johnson and we're back here again with Ian Donaghy. This is a podcast where we tackle some of the topics challenges, best practice within health and social care. I am and welcome to back to what The health check. How do you do? Okay. We loved the Pocketful of Kindness initiative and read our healthcare sponsors some of the books.
00:00:41:02 - 00:01:07:09
Unknown
Can you talk a little bit about it? Why did you start this? You know, what's the driver behind it and your passion behind it and what you know, what is the takeaway for people? Well, it's dead easy. March 2020, The world stopped. You know, suddenly the world stopped spinning and theaters were closed. Pubs were closed. The only place to buy a beer was to get a beer was the fridge.
00:01:07:11 - 00:01:35:19
Unknown
And everybody found out what color their wife's hair were. And because there were no hairdressers either. And so all of the ink fell out of my diary because everything I do involves big rooms full, full of people. And I thought, I've got nothing to do. Nothing. I've never had nothing to do. I've always been busy. I've always done music from being there to, you know, I was always booking gigs for next year.
00:01:36:00 - 00:02:06:10
Unknown
I've got only speak and work. I've got all the work in care homes. I do all this stuff and suddenly I had no to do. I was free in a weekend and I was I didn't have to check anything. And for a while it felt incredible. I never felt more free. And so I embraced it all and all the fresh air, all the spending time with the kids, all the homeschooling and, you know, maybe making me somewhere.
00:02:06:10 - 00:02:32:13
Unknown
School uniform was a bit tough on him, but there you go. Well, only did it one day and and I suddenly realized we don't know how long this is going to last. Initially, we thought it was two weeks of summer, and then two weeks became longer and longer and longer. And normally I work from a finish line backwards.
00:02:32:15 - 00:02:48:20
Unknown
I don't know what to control thing or whatever. I never did my homework on a Friday night. I dare say you didn't either, Paul. Right. It was never done on a Saturday. It was maybe doing on a Saturday night Watch. And that's the life of the South Bank show. And then the bus on the morning with the bit you couldn't do in a few minutes.
00:02:48:22 - 00:03:13:11
Unknown
And I felt a need to have a finish line because this is a race. We don't know what pace we're going to run and how long it's going to last. Nobody had any answers. So I thought within all of that, I need to have some structure. I need to have some control. So I thought, I'll write something that gives me something to do.
00:03:13:12 - 00:03:34:20
Unknown
It's creative, whatever. Now, I wrote a book called The Missing Piece that took me three years about how we cope with losing people. And it was horrendous to write because he's not exactly the jolly sort of things, but it's a really important subject. My wife told me after that book, the next book and I would write would be called Divorce How to Lose the Best Thing That Ever Happened to You.
00:03:34:22 - 00:03:55:16
Unknown
And so I was writing in the Garden and our Bill came out. And when you've done that, Tim, what have we do that is in the book? Is it done? It's not a book, is it? When? Because we are. We have to live till the last one. Is not a book. When? No, it's not. I'm writing some stories you write and then we talk about weird stories that are not.
00:03:55:16 - 00:04:19:24
Unknown
Stories that all join together to become a book. Seriously mammal gospel on as if you are doing another book. But in the end, it's about writing some stories. And one of my friends, I sent them to him. Charles is and he edited the hideous grammar and punctuation and he said, These are wonderful. These are heartwarming and heartless and beautiful things.
00:04:20:01 - 00:04:50:03
Unknown
And so I realized these are all the stories of my life. Stories about Bobby Robson with McDermott, stories about Barry McGuigan with me. So all these things and they form this patchwork quilt that suddenly create this beautiful, you know, cuddly, cuddly thing that made you feel warm and nice inside. And I thought, Oh, let's do it. And it got published and people were interested in it, really interested.
00:04:50:05 - 00:05:19:12
Unknown
And it gave me structure. It gave my friend Charles structure because we were like Bernie Taupin and Elton John, two blokes, you know, writing songs in two rooms. I never saw it all. Yeah. I just sent an email and it just went, You really have scant regard for punctuation. You don't know. And yeah, and these short stories that were all a cup of tea long I thought would be a lovely thing for people to escape.
00:05:19:14 - 00:05:49:20
Unknown
And so I illustrated it and put it all together in the right order. My friend Lisa designed it, and my friend Chris Mercer, he just printed it and it sold. Absolutely Samson's because companies have given it and branded it, you know, I've got it. So any company can brand it, like read our brand and it's given companies an opportunity to engage and share.
00:05:49:20 - 00:06:10:06
Unknown
Thank you and see how invaluable paper in the front of it. This book has been gifted to and it says the reason why it's a surprise. It's like a little letter. It's like one of those books you used to get for going to Sunday school, even though you hated going to Sunday school. But your mom made you. And it's a lovely thing and it shows people how much they matter.
00:06:10:08 - 00:06:33:16
Unknown
And it's just given a lot of comfort to a lot of people. And it's made me realize that I do have a little gift. I've got a little gift for telling nice stories that connect with people, that people can see their lives in a story that they can appreciate something in their lives by reading a story about somebody else that reminds them of somebody.
00:06:33:16 - 00:06:51:11
Unknown
A number of times people have said, there's a guy in that in that story reminds me of me, dad. There's somebody reminds me of me. Now there's somebody that reminds me of my wife. And that's a lovely thing. And then they go back to their wife and they'll say, There's a woman in the stories just like you. Then they hand them the book.
00:06:51:13 - 00:07:11:08
Unknown
Like in some cases, I've had couples. I got a phone call of a friend of mine from years ago. He rang me up at half 11 after 11 one night and spoke. There have been years in and main seem to have just finished your book. We read the story. It was my beside of the bedside table. I read it.
00:07:11:13 - 00:07:44:23
Unknown
She reads that story and we do that right? He says, And I've just finished it. He says, I just want to tell you that it has been better than any book set that I've owned over Lockdown. It was gorgeous. So that message of kindness was prevalent during lockdown. I think we we saw the two groups of people. We saw the May, may, may, May, May, May, may lot, you know, with the hordes of, you know, and hordes of toilet rolls and pasta and just thinking, shall I just get mine first?
00:07:45:00 - 00:08:11:20
Unknown
And we saw the generosity and the selflessness. And so it just seemed a good time for the book. And so I wrote it. And I can honestly say I don't know where it came from. It was my past coming along to help my present and my future. I had no note. I had nothing. Right. I could have really gone under and I didn't because of that little book.
00:08:11:22 - 00:08:39:16
Unknown
And it really saved my bag and it helped a lot of other people. And it just goes to show that you reap what you sow. If you do nice stuff, there's a fair chance that nice stuff happens. And no matter how bad life is, if you do nice things and you treat people right and you and you, you water those relationships and you feed people, you know, and you look after people, Life will no matter its challenges, it will end up in an aggregate wind.
00:08:39:18 - 00:09:07:12
Unknown
You I know you mentioned that it must make you immensely proud when you hear people that you know, to feed that back. But then when you you know I know this this has been published internationally, you know, tens of thousands of copies have gone out. So this is sitting in people's, you know, tens of thousands of homes. And then you have BBC Newcastle saying things like if the world ever needed to book more, you know, so, you know, how does that make you feel?
00:09:07:13 - 00:09:48:23
Unknown
Well, it exceeds our expectation, doesn't it. I thought I was just keep myself busy in the garden. Right. See, for me, the process was more important than the outcome. I needed some control and I needed a focus. And I. I needed a finish line. And it was. It was so, so wonderful. And the feedback has been astonishing. And I got just like yesterday, I send some books to Illinois, to Florida, to Tasmania, from the post office in Islington in New York, and actually saw what's going on here.
00:09:49:04 - 00:10:20:14
Unknown
And that's what social media to is linked in. In particular has been an astounding platform for book hotel stores and for a bloke to call out things that are wrong and celebrate things that remain. I cannot believe I jumped on that train so late, but I just thought it was full of accountants, estate agents and solicitors just saying that there was blackout and I never realized it was full of really cool people who want to engage and want to make a difference.
00:10:20:14 - 00:10:41:09
Unknown
And it really is a fantastically supportive community and the pandemic highlighted that more than tell you so ahead of writing the look at the losing the best thing that you've ever had. Book What's next for you? What's what's you know rattling around in that head that you're passionate about that you can to put pen to paper on? Right.
00:10:41:09 - 00:11:14:15
Unknown
Well, I've got a folder open on me computer. It's called Hello. And it's all about combatting loneliness. And it's all about looking at your life and looking at those significant hellos that have changed your life because hello does change your life. And it's showing you that you've got to talk to strangers. And the whole thing is there's a lot of people are lonely and they're isolated.
00:11:14:17 - 00:11:31:12
Unknown
And the whole idea of this book is to show people the 7.5, 4 billion people out there. And yes, some of them you won't get on with. But you know what? There's a hell of a lot that you will. Why? Don't say hello. What have you got to lose? We don't just watch old films. We don't just read old books.
00:11:31:14 - 00:11:58:12
Unknown
We don't just listen to old songs. Isn't it great when you meet somebody that's new and exciting and you just think, Wow, why have I met you? And that's a lovely thing. And so the whole idea of this book is if you are isolated and you are feeling alone, always remember the key to the lock is on your side of the door.
00:11:58:14 - 00:12:16:21
Unknown
Somebody hasn't locked you in, You can unlock that door, it's down to you, and all you got to do is find somebody and say hello and see where it leads. Because if you look at your life, it's just a series of really fantastic hellos. There'll be some Hello as we go. How are you met? Oh, I'm fine. Oh, yeah.
00:12:16:23 - 00:12:42:22
Unknown
So you'll end up by then this year, the paper where they say, How are you, Paul? Oh, great. Did you watch so-and-so last night? Did you do so-and-so? You know, I was football last night. All these things and conversation starts and then. Josh, we've got four to go for it. Get into town, you know, and all these things all comes from below five letters and we control it all and we don't always control goodbye.
00:12:42:24 - 00:13:09:23
Unknown
And if we grab and harness the power value, I've got a load of stories, honestly, I've told, I've told a few of them and people have said, Oh, that book is going to go deft. And it's just because I've said hello to some really interesting people. I think it'll be a challenge because in terms of, you know, hello.
00:13:10:00 - 00:13:31:13
Unknown
I think the most overused phrase is how you house things. Yeah, and it's a throwaway comment. A lot of people don't actually mean it, but it's the way that you say it. I go back to Stephen Bartlett, the Dragons Den, you know, and when he said to Jordan Peterson, write the thing before anything, how were you doing? If I if you say it in a certain way, then it draws a response.
00:13:31:15 - 00:13:59:10
Unknown
Whereas if I say morning, how are you? Good, thanks. You have done it's noninvasive and it hasn't drawn out the truth behind that which somebody on either side might be really struggling. So yeah, I think you're right about how we say hello. Yeah. Do you know what? I think? The past two years has highlighted one thing beautifully. There are two groups of people.
00:13:59:12 - 00:14:22:02
Unknown
There are the helpers and the helped the people who need help and nobody comes to me thinking I need help with anything. And, you know, I'm pretty lucky, really. I'm. I'm pretty much self self-sufficient. Right. I've got it. I've got a great network of close friends and it's a handful of diamonds. It's not a barrel or two coal.
00:14:22:04 - 00:14:45:01
Unknown
And, you know, we all keep ourselves right. And me wife keeps me right and keeps me grounded a bit too grim with death in my leg and sometimes bought the helped know who the help was on them and the helpers know who the people are who need help and one's looking for the other all the time. One's given in life to the other all the time.
00:14:45:03 - 00:15:08:01
Unknown
And I think that's what we've learned. And if somebody asks for help from somebody, you've given them an opportunity to do something really nice and that's an honor. And if you can make somebody feel better about themselves and give them sort of relief or belief, oh, well, that's fantastic. So if ever you need help, don't be shy. Ask, ask.
00:15:08:05 - 00:15:35:23
Unknown
Then I first went into London one day I was like Paddington, Ben, I was lost. I was like, you know, And I was Billy Elliot who couldn't dance in London. And I went I went up to this taxi driver and I just went mad. I'm lost. And he went, Well, would you support? I wouldn't Newcastle. I said, Would you support us West Elm?
00:15:35:23 - 00:16:05:24
Unknown
I said, Well, we're both rubbish. So you know, and we just and he just out, me out. He said right you need to go there, there, there, there and there. And I wrote it down and he says, and on your way back, just do it backwards. And then I went to Morgan House to give a talk for the BBC, and he suddenly turned London into from the big ominous thing, nor the monkey thing.
00:16:05:24 - 00:16:43:08
Unknown
So I'll get lost in that. I'll get drawn into a series of little places where you just walk. And if you can help one person know I'm all over London, I'm all over it, right? Because if I'm one person can change your complete viewpoint on something, and that's pretty cool. So in terms of the books themselves, then, I mean, you know, you kindly gave me a copy, which is, you know, branded up, you know, with our message as well, and a genuine I can't believe I haven't read this, so I will see back directly.
00:16:43:08 - 00:17:10:21
Unknown
So I have no excuse for that. But you know, for listeners out there, how do we get hold of all of these books? I think well, my books are on beginning Dot UK, which is my website, and you can get the e-book versions on Amazon, but get the book versions from mine because they're better than the Amazon versions and the gist of their book that fits into a handbag or a pocket.
00:17:10:23 - 00:17:31:14
Unknown
And there are different size to to most books and there are different failed have got pictures on every page. Why would you not have pictures on every page? You know, I used an app to create that. One of the kids that was in my home office inclusion unit who now works in I.T. in Australia with a fantastic job.
00:17:31:14 - 00:17:56:11
Unknown
And if it had met him at 13, they wouldn't have employed him. But I have to say, he said he's enough. It can turn pictures and illustrations and all of my books have those $0.69 them up cost me and they're in books all over the world. And so people can get hold of those books, you can get them branded, you can get in touch with me direct on my website or on LinkedIn.
00:17:56:11 - 00:18:14:10
Unknown
Big and Donaghy and you can all you need to do is send me a high res jpeg. You can have bespoke books, a batch for your clients, for your stuff, for your friends, for your family to show them that they're matter. And it's a really nice thing. It's better than it's better than chocolates, it's better than wine, actually.
00:18:14:15 - 00:18:34:12
Unknown
Maybe still give wine and chocolates as well. Give the wine and chocolates and the book and just see what it does to that. First, you see what it does to their eyes to see the impact it makes because might surprise you. I mean, for me, this is I'm the target audience because, you know, you said each story is a cup of tea.
00:18:34:14 - 00:18:59:18
Unknown
You know, when I remember as a kid, there was a book called Commando, Really Short stories, Little five book, Last Pictures story about, you know, the heroic missions of graphic novels, as they're called. Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah, well, the whole idea with this is it's it's a book for busy people. It's a book for people who don't rate the number of people that send me emails, that stuff.
00:18:59:22 - 00:19:34:09
Unknown
I don't read books. Right. Yeah. And then they say, but I've read this cover to cover. There's got to go. Mark Gatiss, who you might have heard of. Mark Gatiss is one of the League of Gentlemen. Mark Gatiss wrote Sherlock for Benedict Cumberbatch in Oliver. He wrote Dracula. He is. He writes Doctor Who. He got given a copy of my books and he read them in a night, and he sent me messages on Twitter saying, This is beautiful.
00:19:34:11 - 00:19:58:03
Unknown
And you said, and I've had people like Care Mellor television writers saying that they think I'm a lovely storyteller, beautiful storyteller, emotional storytelling and I don't know. I don't know when it happened. Right. Because I tell you, I hated it. English at school, despised it. I didn't even want to do it. English literature, really? Right. And now, you know, I just take it you wasn't an English teacher then?
00:19:58:05 - 00:20:18:00
Unknown
No, I wasn't. It was. Well, I started off with a degree in maths and was supposedly a math teacher. But when you work in special ed, you are big. You really are. You've got to do everything you're all things to all meant. So. Yeah, but I never thought I was going to do this. My, my sister is an English teacher and finds it hilarious that I write books that people adore.
00:20:18:06 - 00:21:04:10
Unknown
And do you know what she's doing, what she's even done? She's even used some of my short stories for her lessons. And some of the monologues from my books have been used for Lambda Exams during lockdown for actors. And at one point during during lockdown, my previous book, The Missing Piece, and there was an actor called Steve Evans, who did a film called Looking for Eric with Eric Cantona, a Ken Loach film that when it come, he rang me up and said, Do you mind if I record a monologue, one of your monologues, and record it and send it to a couple of guys from Game of Thrones, Mark Addy and Ben Crompton both said,
00:21:04:10 - 00:21:27:21
Unknown
Can we record a couple of your most unbelievable? And so on Twitter, people are recording my monologues and learning them and record incredible. And so the storytelling, it gets to some strange places if people like it. Absolutely brilliant. Thanks for joining us. Again, an absolutely insightful I love the stories in person. I'm looking forward to reading the book and feedback on that as well.
00:21:27:21 - 00:21:55:24
Unknown
So thank you so much. Next week we'll be speaking to Marcus Magnus from NHS England and it's just improvement about the new learning from patient safety events. PSA, another acronym that we need to learn from the NHS. Don't forget to read and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and if you have any questions for our guests, any questions for Ian, and please email us at what the health tech at Red Eye Health care dot com.
00:21:56:01 - 00:22:09:21
Unknown
And thank you so much. Absolute pleasure to be.