#17 Moved by Listening to People Living with Sickle Cell Disease | Noémi Roy

#17 Moved by Listening to People Living with Sickle Cell Disease | Noémi Roy

Dr Noemi Roy [https://www.linkedin.com/in/noemi-roy-93891021/] is a consultant haematologist at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [https://www.linkedin.com/company/oxford-university-hospitals-nhs-trust/] and an Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer in Haematology at the University of Oxford [https://www.linkedin.com/company/oxforduni/] – working with some of the rarest blood disorders there are. But what struck me most wasn't the information she shared on the disorders themselves, but how she thinks about the people in front of her. She listens until patients feel safe enough to push back on her own ideas. She prints out pictures so people can see what's happening in their own body. She built a charity from scratch because her patients simply had no community to belong to (https://togetherwecan.uk/ [https://togetherwecan.uk/]) "Seeing your patient as a partner – even with the time you have, there's a lot we can all do in the way we listen, in the way we speak, that can make a big difference." ✦ KEY TAKEAWAYS ✦ Sickle cell is massively underfunded relative to comparable conditions – research funding runs at roughly one-seventh that of cystic fibrosis, despite affecting tens of thousands in the UK and millions globally. ✦ Racial bias in healthcare is a documented, deadly problem – the APPG report No One's Listening catalogued avoidable deaths where patients in crisis had their pain dismissed or were wrongly suspected of drug-seeking. ✦ Listening is a clinical tool, not just a courtesy – around 30% of prescribed medications are never taken, often because the patient didn't truly feel heard. Real trust-building directly affects outcomes. ✦ Peer support is medicine – Dr Roy's charity CAN grew from 20 to 120 families annually. One mother, seeing young adults with sickle cell living full lives, said it changed her entire outlook on her two-year-old daughter's future. ✦ Gene therapy exists – but at around £1 million per patient, equity of access is a serious question. Dr Roy asks whether that money wouldn't do more invested across the whole system for more patients. ✦ Prescription charges remain a concrete injustice – unlike patients with cystic fibrosis or type 1 diabetes, adult sickle cell patients in England still pay. Repeated parliamentary campaigns have failed to change it. ✦ Cultural humility is essential – assuming Western models of individual decision-making apply universally is itself a failure to listen. Some patients make health decisions as a family, and that deserves respect. ✦ Median survival age is 54 – many patients grew up being told they wouldn't live past 20 or 30. Progress is real, but nowhere near enough. ✦ Early detection saves lives simply – preventive antibiotics and regular monitoring, not cutting-edge drugs, are the foundation of good sickle cell care in the UK. ✦ Dr Roy ended up in this field almost by accident – a maternity cover gap – but gravitated naturally toward a disenfranchised population, echoing an instinct she's carried since childhood. https://www.rdm.ox.ac.uk/people/noemi-roy [https://www.rdm.ox.ac.uk/people/noemi-roy] https://www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/for-staff/staff/noemi-roy [https://www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/for-staff/staff/noemi-roy] https://www.linkedin.com/in/noemi-roy-93891021/?originalSubdomain=uk [https://www.linkedin.com/in/noemi-roy-93891021/?originalSubdomain=uk] https://www.imm.ox.ac.uk/news/focus-on-racism-making-a-difference-for-sickle-cell-disease [https://www.imm.ox.ac.uk/news/focus-on-racism-making-a-difference-for-sickle-cell-disease] https://togetherwecan.uk/ [https://togetherwecan.uk/]

#16 Moved by South Asia | Vibhati Bhatia

Number 16 of 289 - Vibhati Bhatia [https://www.instagram.com/vibsbhatia/] Vibhati “Vibs” Bhatia is a social sustainability leader, founder and community builder working at the intersection of climate, culture and equity. She is the founder of South Asians for Sustainability [https://www.linkedin.com/company/south-asians-for-sustainability/] (SAFS) – a fast-growing platform amplifying South Asian voices in climate and social impact, while making sustainability more culturally relevant and accessible. Alongside her work, she is also a fusion musician – singing in Hindi, Punjabi and English, and collaborating with artists including The Orchestral Qawwali Project. Mishal Noor [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mishal-n-602727ab/] and I had the pleasure of speaking with Vibs - exploring her journey and why climate action must include the voices most affected. “We’re all connected… the world is one family.” Vibhati Bhatia Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/vibsbhatia/] and LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/vibhati-bhatia/] South Asians for Sustainability Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/southasiansforsustainability/] and LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/south-asians-for-sustainability/] Orchestral Qawwali Project Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/orchestralqawwaliproject/] and website [https://orchestralqawwali.com/]

#15 Moved by Olio | Tessa Clarke

Her parents are farmers, so she knows how much work goes into producing food – and hates throwing it away. That led to forming Olio • Share More, Waste Less [https://olioapp.com/en/] in 2014, so it's a pleasure to bring this story through the latest episode of Moved [https://www.linkedin.com/company/movedpod/]. Meet Tessa Clarke [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tessaclarkeolio/] – solving food waste at scale, 140M+ meals shared safely, 15M+ household items rehomed. We know food waste is wrong, yet a third of food produced globally never gets eaten, and millions are hungry. 🌍 9M+ people have joined the Olio community 🍽️ 140M+ meals redistributed 🏠 15M+ household items rehomed ♻️ 300,000+ tonnes of CO₂e prevented 💧 40B+ litres of water saved 🤝 1M+ volunteer collections every year Moved by Olio, with Tessa Clarke. Download the Olio app from the Apple App Store or Google Play. Read more at https://olioapp.com/en/ [https://olioapp.com/en/]

#14 Moved by Design | Madelaine McLaughlin

In this episode of Moved, Gary Watts speaks with Madeleine (Maddie) McLaughlin – an award-winning designer, researcher and entrepreneur working at the intersection of design, resilience and human impact. From designing tsunami escape routes in Japan to developing life-saving maritime safety solutions, Maddie shares how design goes beyond aesthetics – it becomes a tool for saving lives, rebuilding communities and solving “wicked problems.” This conversation explores: 1. How design thinking can transform organisations 2. Why empathy and culture are critical in innovation 3. The hidden failures of disaster relief systems 4. How small interventions can create massive global impact It’s a powerful reflection on responsibility, creativity and what it really means to design for people. FURTHER INFORMATION 1. Madeleine McLaughlin – LinkedIn Madelaine McLaughlin | LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/madelaine-mclaughlin-202176101/] 2. Estu ESTU | ESTU Courses | Learning Made Simple [https://www.estuglobal.com/] 3. Helm Helm Innovation Ltd [https://www.helminnovation.co.uk/] 4. Royal College of Art Royal College of Art | Home [https://www.rca.ac.uk/] 5. Creative Types Creative Types by Adobe [https://mycreativetype.com/]

#13 Moved by Water | Charlotte Harrington

Most of us don’t think about water. We turn on the tap. Brush our teeth. Make a cup of tea. Have a shower. Most of us interact with water dozens of times before we even leave the house. But for millions of people around the world, clean water isn’t guaranteed. And without it, everything becomes harder. Health. Education. Work. Opportunity. Charlotte Harrington saw that reality up close on a trip to Malawi with WaterAid. They visited a maternity hospital. There was no running water. Midwives were delivering babies through long shifts without being able to wash their hands. Charlotte had given birth in an NHS hospital just a year earlier. The contrast stayed with her. Today she’s Co-CEO of Belu Water, a UK social enterprise trying to change the way people think about water. Belu invests 100% of its net profits into tackling water challenges and has donated more than £6 million to WaterAid so far. Their mission is about getting people to notice something we normally take for granted. Because water sits in that same category as air. Essential. Invisible. Easy to overlook. Until it isn’t. Charlotte Harrington is Guest #13 of 289 people inspiring change on the Moved podcast. > “Without water, none of us can survive.” Further Information Belu Water – https://www.belu.org WaterAid – https://www.wateraid.org [https://www.wateraid.org] UN Sustainable Development Goals – https://sdgs.un.org/goals [https://sdgs.un.org/goals]