All our teams are currently working extremely hard as we, along with the rest of the NHS, tackle Covid-19. That’s why we wanted to give our colleagues the spotlight, as part of our In Conversation With interviews, to share what they’re doing and the impact on them.

Daniela Capasso is our named midwife for safeguarding, she’s also the lead on our child death process and harmful practices. She tells us more about why safeguarding is the hidden element of patient care which is more important than ever right now.

Age: 56

Lives: In Leigh-on-Sea with her partner Lee, 50.

Family: Daniela has two daughters; Trishna, 33, a science teacher, and 26-year-old Priyanka, who has a son, Kamil, two, and is expecting another child in November.

And: Daniela hasn’t always worked in healthcare – she left a high-flying HR career in the city to follow her passion for midwifery.

Tell us more about safeguarding and your role

Safeguarding was very different 20-30 years ago when it was led by external agencies. Now, we match the clinical component with safeguarding. We as clinicians cannot provide care without asking questions – we need to know the background and what caused any injury or accident.

I find safeguarding very interesting in a maternity setting as an unborn child has no legal status – we can’t protect them until they are born. If a pregnant woman is taking drugs or drinking alcohol to excess, we know she’s putting her baby at risk, but we can’t stop her.

That’s why we work with families, and social services, to support them and prevent neglect or abuse from happening.

It is much more effective if you engage early on, agree a support plan, and get everything in place before the baby is born. It’s what we’d all prefer rather than starting court proceedings to remove a baby.

In my role I provide assurance and advice on all maternity safeguarding matters, giving direction via training, guidance and support on how to risk assess pregnant women and learning through previous incidents. Midwives establish relationships with women during their pregnancy, so they are the true leaders in safeguarding them, and key to spotting if something isn’t right.

I work in the background, supporting midwives. We could have 100 to 150 cases requiring our support at any time and each family has their own individual needs – there is no one size fits all.

Safeguarding is everyone’s business, and that’s not just a cliché. It’s also important to remember it’s not just about physical safety, it could be about resources, such as lack of finances, their support network, or not having the right parenting skills.

How did you end up in safeguarding?

My background is in human resources and I spent quite a few years working in the financial sector in the city. However, I was worried about redundancy so I decided to study to be a midwife in 2003.

I spent weekdays working in HR consultancy and then was a midwife at weekends for a while. I chose midwifery over nursing as in my other job I was used to delivering projects – you embrace delivering a baby, and then you have to let it go, like a project!

My fears of being made redundant did come true at a time when I’d given up midwifery to focus on my consultancy work. Although I was offered another role in my field, I decided it was time to make a choice between that and midwifery.

It was a hard decision but it felt right to choose midwifery. It fed into the caring and compassionate side of me which is very different to the world of finance, which can be dog-eat-dog.

In 2010, I went back to Northwick Park Hospital where I trained. I worked on the labour ward, did home births and also got involved in service improvements, then I managed the labour ward.

In 2016 I moved to Norfolk to be a matron for outpatient services, it was there that I also took on safeguarding. My first role as named midwife for safeguarding was at James Paget University Hospitals Foundation Trust in Great Yarmouth.

When did you join our Trust?

In December 2018 – my youngest daughter had come to see me and said she’d love it if I moved back to London. Not long afterwards I got approached by our Trust, it was such a coincidence!

I work with our amazing Safeguarding team and I’m so proud of all their hard work. There is a lot that they do behind the scenes which is not seen.

Have you seen an increase in cases due to the Covid-19 pandemic?

We’re not seeing an increase, however, it’s too early for us to know the impact yet. We know that lockdown can bring out abusive behaviour which wasn’t there before. It’ll be in the next three to six months when we’ll really know.

During the pandemic, our role hasn’t changed – we are still risk assessing our patients and providing support where it’s needed. Some practical things have changed of course, such as no meeting with big groups, so we’re embracing technology like everyone else.

What would you like our staff to take on board after reading this?

I want people to think about domestic violence, not just in the context of our patients, our colleagues too. We have around 7,000 members of staff so some of us will have been affected.

We need to look after ourselves, especially now, and each other. We should talk to someone if we need to.

Going forward I plan to focus on domestic violence with more staff training. We need to ask questions and not make assumptions – a woman with injuries in our Emergency Department is much more likely to be asked about domestic violence than a man. However, men can be victims too.

I want us to change our attitudes and be more open-minded. And asking the ‘domestic violence’ question, irrespective of gender, is just the first step. We also need it to trigger a response if there is an issue.

I’m looking at the services and support we provide and am developing our safeguarding strategy for the next three years.

What do you like getting up to outside work?

I destress by playing computer games and I love cooking - I’m Italian so I see it as part of looking after my family.

I also volunteer for SSAFA, the armed forces charity. I act as a mentor to help them transition back to civilian life. There can be lots of challenges, especially for the older generation, I help them see what support they can get and with other practical things.

I’ve been doing it for three years and it keeps me busy.

I met my partner a few months before the pandemic and because we wouldn’t have been able to see each other otherwise, he moved in with me. He works in construction and can’t sit still so when he wasn’t working he re-did my patio, and built a pizza oven in the garden! I can’t wait to have pizza parties once all the restrictions are lifted.

And our favourite question of In Conversation With…have you got any pets?

I’ve got two black cats, Snow and Storm (pictured below). They’re brother and sister and when I call for them I say Snowstorm, they both think it’s their name!