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HEARD by Avma

Join us in shaping a new programme to help people better understand and exercise their healthcare rights, navigate healthcare with confidence, speak up when things go wrong, and understand routes to accountability and redress.

Help influence HEARD by Avma

We’re looking for people with lived experience of avoidable medical harm to help shape HEARD by Avma. Every year, we hear from people who tell us:
I didn’t know what questions to ask.
I didn’t realise I had a right to challenge that decision.
I wish I’d known where to go for help sooner.

We believe that the people and communities most affected by avoidable medical harm should help shape the information and support that others receive. We also want to better understand the barriers people may face when exercising their rights, seeking accountability, and accessing appropriate redress.

That’s why we’re inviting patients, families, carers, and communities to take part in online co-design workshops exploring healthcare rights, consent, raising concerns, accessing support and justice, and what people wish they had known sooner.

What we learn will shape HEARD and inform Avma’s wider work to improve patient safety, strengthen accountability and access to justice, and ensure that people affected by avoidable medical harm are better heard and supported.

How your experience can help

In our workshops, together we’ll explore the barriers people face when navigating healthcare, experiences of speaking up or raising concerns, understanding of rights, accountability and redress, routes to support, and the information people wish they’d known sooner. We’ll also explore what could help people feel safer, better informed, and more confident.

What you share will directly shape the future HEARD by Avma pilot, ensuring it reflects the real experiences and needs of the people it is intended to support. Your insights will also help us influence change and inform our future policy and campaigning work.

Why does this matter?

Research, enquiries, and patient safety reviews continue to highlight recurring themes: people not feeling heard, uncertainty about rights and consent, lack of awareness of support and routes to redress, and additional barriers faced by communities that are often under-represented.

HEARD by Avma aims to complement wider patient safety initiatives, including Martha’s Rule and the Harmed Patient Pathway, by helping more people understand and exercise their rights, know where to turn for independent support, and feel more confident speaking up when something doesn’t feel right.

Meaningful change depends not only on having the right systems in place, but on people knowing about them, understanding how to use them, and feeling able to act.

What does it involve?
  • Time required: Up to two hours
  • Format: Online, interactive co-design workshop led by an experienced trauma-informed facilitator and the Avma team
  • What to expect: A safe, supportive space to share your experiences, ideas and insights, and help shape the future of HEARD by Avma
  • Your contribution: Your experiences will help inform future resources, learning sessions, and Avma’s wider policy, campaigning, and change-making work
  • Thank you payment: £40 per session

Is it for you?

If you feel your voice hasn’t always been heard in healthcare, or you’ve faced barriers to getting the information, support or answers you need, we’d love to hear from you. By sharing your experiences, you can help shape HEARD by Avma and the wider work it informs.

  • people who have personally experienced avoidable medical harm,
  • people who have lost someone due to avoidable medical harm,
  • people from Black, Asian, and minoritised ethnic communities,
  • neurodivergent people,
  • disabled people and those living with long-term health conditions,
  • LGBTQIA+ people,
  • care-experienced young people,
  • carers, kinship carers, and family members, and
  • anyone from any group or community that faces barriers to being heard or accessing the support they need.

Together, we can help more people feel informed, empowered and heard, and better able to understand and exercise their rights, speak up, and seek support when they need it.

Register your interest in HEARD by Avma