Following experience of spinal anaesthetic failure for a caesarean section in 2010, Susanna became interested in patient safety. She campaigned for and co-authored the Obstetric Anaesthetists’ Association guidelines on testing and management of neuraxial blocks for caesarean sections, published in Anaesthesia in 2022. Her experience of working to achieve change features in The New York Times and Serial Productions second series of ‘The Retrievals’. 

Susanna has a wide range of experience of patient and public involvement as co-applicant and PPI lead for multiple national projects including the Defining, Recognising and Escalating Maternal Early Deterioration (DREaMED) project to develop an electronically-embedded, data-enhanced Modified Obstetric Early Warning Score (eMOEWS), and the development of a new maternity Patient Reported Experience Measure (PREM). She has worked on several projects with The Healthcare Improvement Studies (THIS) Institute, including the Avoiding Brain Injury in Childbirth study, and she is a member of the THIS Institute Maternity Patient and Public Involvement Panel. Susanna was a co-author of the National Safety Standards for Invasive Procedures, NatSSIPs2. She is an ambassador for the Clinical Human Factors Group and co-chair of the Baby Lifeline Family Voices advisory group. 

Other projects Susanna is involved with:

• Multiple projects with The Healthcare Improvement Studies (THIS) Institute, University of Cambridge, 2021 to present, including:
  • Avoiding Brain Injury in Childbirth (ABC) study with RCOG and RCM 
  • THIS Institute Evaluation of the CQC’s maternity inspection programme
  • THIS Institute Maternity Escalation study
  • THIS Institute Maternity Patient and Public Involvement Panel
  • THIS Institute and RAND Europe National Evaluation Team, co-chair public advisory group
• Defining, Recognising and Escalating Maternal Early Deterioration (DREaMED), co-applicant and PPI lead. University of Oxford, 2021- present.
• Snapshot Obstetric National Anaesthetics Research project, co-applicant and PPI lead. University College London, 2024-present.
• Development of a maternity Patient Reported Experience Measure (PREM): co-applicant and PPI lead. London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. 2024-present.
• Clinical Human Factors Group, Ambassador, 2017-present.
• Prevention and management of intra-operative pain during caesarean section under neuraxial anaesthesia, Obstetric Anaesthetists Association guidelines, co-author. 2017-2022.
• National Safety Standards for Invasive Procedures v2 (NatSSIPs2), co-author, 2021-2023.
• Elevating Anaesthesia Choices for Cesarean Delivery, co-chair and patient partner, University of Pittsburgh, 2024-2025.
• UK Obstetric Surveillance System, steering committee. National Perinatal Epidemiological Unit, University of Oxford, 2016-2022. 
• Obstetric Anaesthetists Association, Executive Committee, 2017-2023. 
• Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch, Citizens’ Partnership Design and Delivery Group, 2020-2021.