A mum who has campaigned for medical equality for disabled people since her son died in hospital will be presented with an OBE from the Queen next month.
Paula McGowan, who was born in Huyton but now lives in Newcastle, Australia, has been campaigning for medical and care staff to be given mandatory training in learning disability and autism since her son Oliver McGowan died in November 2016.
Oliver was born a month premature and developed bacterial meningitis at three weeks of age. He was later diagnosed with mild hemiplegia, focal partial epilepsy, a mild learning disability and was later diagnosed with high functioning autism.
READ MORE: Heartbroken family of teen killed in attack issue Merseyside Derby request
Paula previously told the ECHO that Oliver's disabilities did not hold him back. He played for England development football squads and was training to become a Paralympian. However, in November 2016, he was admitted to Bristol's Southmead Hospital after having partial seizures.
Oliver, 18, died in the hospital on November 11, 2016. He had developed severe brain swelling after he was prescribed anti-psychotic medication against his and his parents’ will, and his medical records showed he had an intolerance to anti-psychotic drugs.
An inquest into his death was held in 2018, but assistant coroner Dr Peter Harrowing said doctors did the right thing in prescribing the medication. However, a 2020 re-review commissioned by NHS England, called an LeDeR (Learning Disability Mortality Review), stated that his death was "potentially avoidable". Avon and Somerset Police launched a criminal investigation into Oliver's death in the same year.
Since Oliver's passing, Paula has been working on Oliver's Campaign. In 2018, Paula launched a parliamentary petition asking for doctors and nurses in England to receive mandatory training in Learning disability and autism awareness. A year later, the government published 'Right to be heard' - a response to a consultation on introducing mandatory learning disability and autism training for health and social care staff.
Since then, Paula has been working with NHS England to develop the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training in Learning Disability and Autism, which according to NHS Health Education England "will ensure staff working in health and social care receive learning disability and autism training, at the right level for their role. They will have a better understanding of people’s needs, resulting in better services and improved health and wellbeing outcomes."
NHS England is currently running the pilot scheme and it will eventually be rolled out nationally. A stakeholder event will take place on May 25 in order to shape the look of the training for its rollout.
Paula's tireless campaigning resulted in an OBE for services to people with autism and learning disabilities in the Queen's Birthday Honours List 2021. She will receive the honour from the Queen at Buckingham Palace on May 4.
Paula told the ECHO : "To me, I will always say that because I’m Oliver’s mum, I’m his voice. I believe that the OBE belongs to Oliver and I would accept it on behalf of him. I’m just his mum, I’m just his voice.
"I accept the OBE on behalf of Oliver and people whose voices aren’t always heard."
Paula hopes that the OBE will draw more attention to the campaign and ensure that it continues its momentum. She added: "I think the OBE will definitely help with the campaign. It gives it a bit of kudos to Oliver’s campaign and it’s just a way of giving back to the neuro-divergent communities really.
"We are losing well over 12,000 learning disabled people in our hospitals every single year due to their healthcare needs not being met equally. This OBE is not about me, it not just about Oliver, it’s much bigger than all of that."
