Charlotte Bevan

I work with Rachel Plachcinski on parent, patient and public involvement (PPPI) for the DECIDE project. We also lead on PPPI at the Policy Research Unit in Maternal and Neonatal Health and Care (PRU-MNHC) at the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit (NPEU) at the Nuffield Department for Population Health (NDPH) at the University of Oxford.

I worked as a journalist for 13 years in the UK and in south-east Asia as a BBC World Service correspondent but changed careers after my daughter Hope died shortly after birth, due to events in labour in 2001. I have since then worked at Sands, a charity supporting families whose baby has died before, during or shortly after birth. I am now a senior advisor for the charity, supporting their work in bringing the parent voice to policy, service and research initiatives to improve care for women and families during pregnancy, labour and in neonatal care. As a Sands representative on the MBRRACE-UK collaboration, we have highlighted the importance of labour monitoring and the enormous financial and emotional impacts it has on the NHS and families when a baby dies or is harmed.