Oliver died after a short illness in July 2026 and the legacy that he leaves in neonatal care is quite remarkable. So many people knew Oliver, whether it be chatting in the queue for coffee at a conference, sitting on a committee with him, through the many Resuscitation Council UK courses that he taught on, or clinically as a colleague, Oliver was known and respected. He was a very active member of the British Association of Perinatal Medicine (BAPM), contributing to multiple working groups and committees. He gave a huge amount of time to developing neonatal guidance on multiple topics including repatriation, electronic patient records and the Newborn Early Warning Track and Trigger tool (NEWTT2). He led the NEWTT2 subgroup that developed the innovative escalation and multidisciplinary response tools, receiving the Outstanding Contribution to BAPM Award in 2023 for his leadership, dedication, questioning resolve, support and kindness. He regularly represented BAPM at external meetings and BAPM office staff often asked Oliver for advice and support in regards to offering a ‘Welsh perspective’ as he was so knowledgeable about how services were delivered in the country.

His neonatal career began at Arrowe Park Hospital and then at Glan Clwyd Hospital in North Wales. His wisdom and calmness are something that so many people have commented on, as well as his warmth, humour and attention to detail.

Oliver cared about the babies, they and their families were the priority. His passion and dedication to deliver the best possible care influenced so many of the QI and research projects that he was involved with. He was generous in his support of others enabling them to take the leading role and recognition. He was regularly asked to support QI initiatives in other areas of the hospital and was an active participant of the professional coaching network. His eye for detail meant that if he had reviewed a guideline then you knew that it had been thoroughly reviewed, it would return with a lot of comments, not always by the deadline, but even that could be forgiven, so helpful was his perspective. He believed that meetings should be actively contributed to, this led to lively discussions and Oliver powerfully putting his point across. He would challenge the opinions of others, but would always listen, recognising that there were different views, but then often persuade you that his view was the correct one. He recognised that healthcare could learn from industry and would often quote from a book that he had just found helpful.

Oliver championed the importance of parental involvement on the neonatal unit long before Family Integrated Care (FIC) was properly recognised. He also saw the importance of peer support and established communities locally and nationally to support parents during and after their stay on a neonatal unit. He spoke out about the unique needs of dads too.

Oliver collecting his Award for Outstanding Contribution to BAPM.

Improving safety through education and in particular the effect of human factors was something that he brought to his day-to-day clinical work and to the many courses that he taught on. Always one to enjoy the social aspect of courses too, he was lead entertainer at Advanced Resuscitation of the Newborn Infant (ARNI) faculty dinners which often involved ribbing of the fellow instructors, he had a great sense of humour. Quite how he could think of such wise cracks so spontaneously was infuriating.

He made an effort to know and value all staff from the multidisciplinary team and support staff. He really cared about the team, and staff wellbeing was a high priority. He would encourage post-ward round coffees to be outside, always bringing the biscuits! Conversations might initially start about a research paper that someone had read but would soon move into a totally different direction about a film, concert, sporting team performance, or AI. He was interested in hearing the views of others, he valued their life view and what he could learn from them. The garden area that was used for these gatherings was regularly tended to by Oliver on his weekend on-calls. He said that he would rather be outside cutting down the weeds than sat in his ‘cell’ in the residences. He cared deeply about the environment and spoke out about the danger of climate change.

Oliver knew the importance of being kind, it was something that he valued highly. This was lived out in difficult conversations with families which were handled with such sensitivity. So many of the online tributes to him talk about his skills in saving lives, and his exceptional communication skills. He celebrated the success of others introducing ‘learning from excellence’ initiatives, he supported people to be the best version of themselves.

Oliver leaves a huge gap in the lives of all those who knew him and it has been a privilege to know and work with him. The world is a better place because he was in it. If each person who knew him could continue to embody the things that were important to him in the way that they work every day, then his aim to make sure that each day is a little bit better than the last will continue.

Written by Rhian Smith, with Sarah Bates, Kate Dinwiddy & Wendy Tyler. Drawing upon the thoughts and memories of so many people whose lives were touched by Oliver