Peter Walsh, Chief Executive of AvMA, to retire at end of 2022
Published: 16 May 2022
Peter Walsh will be retiring in December 2022 after 20 years as the Chief Executive of Action against Medical Accidents (AvMA). He will stay in post until the new chief executive is successfully appointed and takes up their role, and will be available to handover to his successor. Peter advised AvMA of his plans for retirement some time ago to allow plenty of time for succession planning.
Peter has led AvMA since 2003, working tirelessly for the people affected by avoidable harm in healthcare, to improve patient safety and access to justice, and building AvMA’s reputation as the leading patient centred organisation in these fields.
Under Peter’s leadership, the charity has enjoyed great success, helping bring about changes such as the introduction of the statutory Duty of Candour, moving patient safety higher up the agenda and giving a stronger voice to those affected by avoidable harm, and fighting for the rights of people affected by clinical negligence. AvMA’s small team of just 22 staff, together with an amazing group of volunteers, provide advice and support to thousands of people affected by avoidable harm in healthcare each year.
Peter says: “I have spent the best years of my career with AvMA and have been incredibly lucky to work alongside brilliant colleagues and trustees, and to enjoy relationships with fantastic people amongst our beneficiaries and supporters across the spectrum of patient safety and medico-legal work. I will miss this greatly, but will certainly stay in touch with AvMA and support its mission in other ways.”
Jocelyn Cornwell, Chair of AvMA’s Trustee Board says: “We are sorry to be losing Peter and extremely grateful for the excellent work that he has done at AvMA. Thanks to his expertise, passion and commitment AvMA has achieved an awful lot, and is in a good position to do more to support those affected by avoidable harm, provide a well informed patient-centred voice, and make healthcare safer and fairer when things do go wrong. This is now an exciting opportunity for a new ceo to take AvMA further forward and achieve those aims.”
AvMA is now starting recruitment for a new chief executive to lead the charity through the next stage of the charity’s journey, building on the success of the last 40 years. This is an exciting opportunity for someone with leadership skills and a passion for AvMA’s mission of patient safety and justice.