Anne Carvalho
I was the victim of medical harm in 1990 when a severe abnormality was not diagnosed during my second pregnancy. Whilst the outcome for my son would not have altered, even if my care had been appropriate, I would have had more options available to me and would have had time to consider those options and to adjust to the fact that my son was not capable of living outside my womb. As it was I delivered at 36 weeks and then went through a very difficult few hours whilst what was initially thought to be a fairly minor abnormality was correctly diagnosed as a major abnormality which was incompatible with life. I then faced the trauma of removing life support and holding my newborn baby in my arms while he died.
18 years on I do not know which of the available options I would have taken however I can say that events would have followed a different path and I am certain I would have avoided a very difficult few years in which I struggled to come to terms with the death of my son.
I then went onto train as a midwife and to fulfil my dream of providing women with compassionate, research based care. I was a highly motivated midwife putting women and their families at the centre of their care and saw myself as their advocate whilst keeping them safe during their pregnancy and birth. However I became increasingly frustrated by my inability to make changes to the provision of care on a larger scale. I am proud to say I facilitated change on an individual level for the women and families in my care but I wanted to do more.
After much thought I retrained as a solicitor, qualifying in 2004. I now work exclusively with people bringing claims against their healthcare providers in relation to negligent care. In that role I consider I am a more effective agent for change than I have been previously. I recognise that the majority of people who complain about their healthcare or pursue a claim in negligence are motivated by the desire to prevent the same thing happening to someone else. They want their experiences to be used for the benefit of others and as opportunities for learning from the mistakes which were made.
Much change has taken place in the NHS in the past 15 years. The focus of the organisation is changing which I believe has set the scene for patients themselves to become a more influential and powerful voice. As a patient safety champion I hope I can help make this happen and am really excited by this opportunity to make a positive and important contribution to the improvement of patient safety.