Poppy's Promise Org

Poppy's Promise Org Poppy’s Promise is an initiative supporting NHS staff in providing care that is compassionate, kind & patient-centred.

Last night, I had the privilege of speaking to the Ockenden Family Board about Poppy, our experience, and the work that ...
17/09/2026

Last night, I had the privilege of speaking to the Ockenden Family Board about Poppy, our experience, and the work that has grown from it through Poppy’s Promise.

I came home with incredibly complex emotions.

There is something very difficult about being in a room with other families connected by experiences none of us should ever have had. We shouldn’t know one another because our babies and family members died or suffered profound harm. We shouldn’t have a shared an understanding of trauma, loss and the fight for answers.

And yet, within that room last night, there was also hope.

Sharing Poppy’s story will never be easy. Talking about what happened to her, and what happened to us afterwards, still carries an enormous weight. Accountability matters. Understanding what went wrong matters. Learning the truth matters.

But I also believe there has to be space for what we do with that truth.

Poppy’s Promise has never been about looking away from what happened. It is about looking directly at it, learning from it, and asking how we make healthcare better because of it.

How do we make sure patients and families feel heard?

How do we support staff to communicate with compassion, even in the most difficult moments?

How do we create cultures where people feel safe to speak, listen, acknowledge when something has gone wrong and learn?

How do we allow something positive to grow from something so devastating?

The response last night left me feeling genuinely uplifted. The discussion afterwards was thoughtful, positive and encouraging, and hearing people understand what Poppy’s Promise is trying to achieve meant more than I can really put into words.

I’m incredibly grateful to Donna Ockenden for her continued belief in and support of this work, and to Jo and the team at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust for supporting Poppy’s Promise and helping us demonstrate what it can look like in practice.

I wish with everything that I have that none of this needed to exist. I wish Poppy was here and that I had never had a reason to stand in that room. But she isn’t.

And so, somehow, we have to find a way to carry both things at once: accountability for what happened, and hope for what can change because of it.

Last night felt like one of those moments.

For Poppy. Always. 🌺

15/09/2026

If you had to describe Poppy’s Promise in just three words, what would they be?

Listening. Kindness. Humanity.

Empathy. Hope. Understanding.

The words shared in this film may be different, but they all speak to the same belief: compassionate care matters.

Poppy’s Promise is about creating a culture where people feel heard, acknowledged and respected—and where staff are supported to bring their most compassionate, authentic selves to every interaction.

Because the smallest words and actions can leave the greatest impact.

Three words. One shared promise. A lasting legacy for Poppy. 🧡

What three words would you choose?

Find out more at poppyspromise.org.uk

A few weeks ago, mandatory Poppy’s Promise training was launched across The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust—an...
07/09/2026

A few weeks ago, mandatory Poppy’s Promise training was launched across The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust—and the response so far has been incredibly encouraging.

Uptake has been strong, feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and many staff have been actively seeking out the training to complete it.

We have also heard that the lived-experience film is a hard watch. It is and that’s because the experiences it shares are real. It asks staff to pause, to see healthcare through the eyes of patients and families, and to understand how profoundly words, actions and small moments of compassion can affect someone.

But this training session can’t magically fix everything. No training can do that.

Lasting change comes when learning is carried into everyday practice, supported by leaders, reinforced within teams and reflected in the culture of an organisation. That is why the training is not Poppy’s Promise in its entirety—it is one fundamentally important part of a much bigger initiative.

It gives staff the opportunity to learn about Poppy, to understand why her story matters and to explore the CARE principles at the heart of Poppy’s Promise: Compassion, Acknowledgement, Respect and Empowerment.

Most importantly, it creates a shared foundation for what compassionate care should look and feel like across the NHS—for patients, families and staff.

The training may be one step, but it is a vital one. Because meaningful change begins with understanding—and continues through what we choose to do differently afterwards.

A Small Promise. A Big Change.
�We Promise to CARE.

The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust 🙌🏼

Sometimes, amongst the meetings, the presentations, the emails, the plans and the conversations about where Poppy’s Prom...
31/08/2026

Sometimes, amongst the meetings, the presentations, the emails, the plans and the conversations about where Poppy’s Promise could go next, I don’t often talk about what all of this means to me personally.

This is Poppy’s hand.

A tiny hand that I held.
A hand I should have watched grow.

Poppy’s Promise has become so much bigger than I could ever have imagined when this journey began. It is now being spoken about in hospitals, universities and rooms I never imagined her name would reach.

And perhaps one of the hardest things to explain is what it feels like to hear people say her name.

To hear “Poppy’s Promise” spoken in meetings.
To see her name on hospital walls.
To hear healthcare professionals make their promise to her.
To hear students who never knew her talk about what they will carry from her story into the way they care for somebody one day.

There is something incredibly bittersweet about it because I would give absolutely anything for Poppy to be here instead.

No legacy could ever replace the life she should have had but because she isn’t here, knowing that her name is being carried forward with such kindness and purpose means more to me than I will ever be able to adequately put into words.

Poppy’s Promise is her legacy.

It is my way of making sure that her tiny life continues to matter. That something born from the most painful experience of our lives can help create moments of compassion, listening, respect and humanity for somebody else.

Every time somebody pauses because of Poppy’s Promise…

Every time somebody listens a little more carefully.

Every time a patient feels heard.

Every time a member of staff remembers that what is routine for them may be life-changing for the person in front of them.

Her legacy grows a little further.

She was here for just 12 hours.

But she mattered.

She still matters.

And hearing her name spoken, seeing people believe in what it stands for, and watching Poppy’s Promise begin to find its place in healthcare is one of the greatest privileges of my life.

My beautiful girl. My reason for all of this.

Poppy. ❤️

This week, I had the privilege of speaking to Year 4 medical students as part of their induction, just before they begin...
29/08/2026

This week, I had the privilege of speaking to Year 4 medical students as part of their induction, just before they begin the next important stage of their education and spend more of their time learning within clinical placements.

It felt like exactly the right moment to talk about Poppy’s Promise.
Because becoming a good doctor is about so much more than clinical knowledge.

Before these students step onto wards, into clinics and alongside patients and families, there is an opportunity to reinforce something fundamental: how you make someone feel matters.

To listen properly.
To communicate clearly and kindly.
To notice the person, not just the condition.
To understand that an interaction which may be routine for you may be one of the most frightening or significant moments of somebody else’s life.

These aren’t additions to good clinical care. They are part of good clinical care.

We talked about Poppy, about the experiences that led to Poppy’s Promise, and about the small moments and behaviours that can have an enormous impact on a patient or family.

Most importantly, I asked them to carry those principles with them as they begin their placements — and, eventually, into the doctors they become.

If we want compassionate healthcare cultures in the future, we have to invest in them from the very beginning.

That is why this stage of education matters so much to Poppy’s Promise.

Clinical knowledge will help you treat the patient.�Compassion will help you care for the person and our future doctors need both. ❤️🌺



Keele University and The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust

Thank you to Samantha Hooper for facilitating this and so many other opportunities.

11/08/2026

There are some moments in this journey that are difficult to put into words. This is one of them. 🧡

When Poppy’s Promise began, it came from the most painful place imaginable — from a little girl who had just 12 hours in this world, and from a determination that her life would mean something.

A determination that what happened to Poppy could help shape something better for somebody else.

And now, to hear NHS staff speaking about their promise to Poppy feels incredibly powerful. Moving. Special.

Because this is how change happens.

Not simply through policies, posters or training modules. It happens when people believe in something.

When they stop for a moment and think about the person in front of them. When they choose to listen.
To acknowledge. To show compassion. To treat somebody with the respect and kindness they would want for someone they love.

Every promise in this video represents a person choosing to carry Poppy’s legacy into the care they give and that means more to me than I can ever adequately express.

Poppy may have had only 12 hours. But five years later, her little life is reaching into conversations, wards, departments and moments of care she will never see.

Small moments. Big impact.

To every member of staff who has made a promise to Poppy, whether it’s on this video or not — thank you.

Please keep talking about it. Keep challenging yourselves and each other. Keep sharing what compassionate care looks like in practice.

And most importantly, keep your promise. 🧡

Care like it’s someone you love.

Some people change your journey before they even realise it.Following the loss of Poppy, we met Donna through the Ockend...
27/07/2026

Some people change your journey before they even realise it.

Following the loss of Poppy, we met Donna through the Ockenden Review. At one of the hardest times of our lives, Donna listened, cared and believed that Poppy's story could help create positive change.

From the very beginning she has supported Poppy's Promise, encouraging us, opening doors and introducing us to people who have helped transform an idea into a movement that is now beginning to change healthcare.

Today, we are incredibly proud and deeply honoured to announce that Donna has agreed to become the Principal Patron of The Poppy's Promise Foundation.

Donna has spent her career championing safer, kinder and more compassionate care, and the values she has dedicated her life to are the very values that sit at the heart of Poppy's Promise.

Thank you, Donna, for believing in us from the start. Your support means more than words can say. 💛🌺



Donna Ockenden ❤️⭐️

There are days on this journey that feel, to me, much bigger than they probably look from the outside.Today is one of th...
23/07/2026

There are days on this journey that feel, to me, much bigger than they probably look from the outside.

Today is one of those moments.

Over the coming days, some maternity patients at The Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital Trust will receive a text message inviting them to share feedback about their care.

To many, it's just a text message.

To me, it's the beginning of something I've dreamed about for a long time.

Since losing Poppy, I've wanted to create a way for every patient to feel heard, every act of kindness to be recognised, and every opportunity to learn to become an opportunity to make care even better.

This pilot is our first step. It will help us understand how feedback can be gathered, how we respond to it, and how we create a genuine "You said, we did" culture where people know their voices matter.

One day, I hope this grows into a Poppy's Promise app, giving patients the opportunity to share feedback after individual appointments and creating a space where staff can support, encourage and recognise each other too.

Because feedback isn't about finding fault. It's about listening. It's about learning. It's about celebrating the incredible care that happens every day, whilst giving us the chance to make things even better.

I'm incredibly humbled by how many people have believed in Poppy's Promise and helped turn an idea born from heartbreak into something that has the potential to improve care for others. Thank you to everyone who has played a part in getting us to this point.

This may be just one text message.

But to me, it represents hope. 🌺❤️



The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust
NHS

Yesterday, Poppy's Promise took its first steps into the world.Yesterday marked the launch of the pilot at The Shrewsbur...
21/07/2026

Yesterday, Poppy's Promise took its first steps into the world.

Yesterday marked the launch of the pilot at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, and I don't think I'll ever quite find the words to describe how it felt.
For almost three years, Poppy's story has been the driving force behind every conversation, every meeting, every difficult day and every tiny step forwards. Yesterday, for the first time, I stood in a room and watched that vision come to life.

I watched staff stop to read the posters.

I watched people pick up the pledge cards.

I listened as colleagues shared ideas, offered encouragement and talked passionately about how Poppy's Promise could make a difference in their own departments.

There was such an incredible sense of energy in the room. Not because people were being told to change, but because they genuinely wanted to.

That gives me so much hope.

Poppy's Promise has never been about criticism. It has always been about supporting the amazing people who work in our NHS to deliver the compassionate care they came into healthcare to provide. Seeing senior leaders, clinicians and staff embracing that vision today was incredibly humbling.

I'm also immensely grateful to the senior leadership team at The Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust for believing in this from the beginning and having the courage to become the first organisation in the country to pilot it. Innovation only happens when people are willing to step forward, and today they did exactly that.

Seeing the creative suite displayed for the first time was another moment I'll never forget. The posters, banners, pledge cards and resources that have lived on screens, in meetings and in countless drafts were suddenly real. They weren't just ideas anymore—they had become something people could see, hold, talk about and connect with.

Yesterday wasn't the finish line.

It was the beginning.

We'll continue listening, learning and adapting Poppy's Promise alongside the incredible teams using it, making sure it works across different departments, different environments and, most importantly, for the people delivering and receiving care every single day.

Today, my heart is full.

Full of gratitude.

Full of pride.

And full of hope.

For Poppy.

❤️🌺

This morning feels different.As I stood watching the sunrise, I couldn't help but think of Poppy.Today, her name becomes...
20/07/2026

This morning feels different.

As I stood watching the sunrise, I couldn't help but think of Poppy.

Today, her name becomes part of something bigger than our loss. Today marks the launch of the very first Poppy's Promise pilot – the first of its kind in the country.

What began with heartbreak has become hope. A promise that every patient deserves to feel heard, valued and treated with compassion.

I am incredibly grateful to everyone who has believed in this vision, supported it, challenged it, and worked so hard to make today possible. Change is never the work of one person; it takes people willing to believe that healthcare can always be kinder.

Today is for Poppy. For every patient or family who has ever felt unheard. And for every member of staff who wants to make a difference, one conversation at a time.

Here's to new beginnings, and to the hope that this is just the first sunrise of many.

💛🌅🌺

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