Life in Her Hands: The Inspiring Story of a Pioneering Female Surgeon

Product Information

Pioneering surgeon blazed a trail for women in medicine, becoming the UK’s first female professor of surgery. From 1st July 2021, VAT will be applicable to those EU countries where VAT is applied to books - this additional charge will be collected by Fed Ex (or the Royal Mail) at the time of delivery. Shipments to the USA & Canada: Fortunately for the thousands of patients whose lives Mansfield went on to save with her pioneering vascular surgery, she was undeterred by his response. First British woman to be appointed a professor of surgery. President of the British Medical Association (2009-2010).

Life in Her Hands - Penguin Books UK

But being able to offer such a choice does not appear to be on the horizon. At present only 6.3% of female medical students take up surgery, although women make up nearly 70% of the intake at some medical schools. (The usual figure is 50/50.) And now she has retired. Will she miss it all dreadfully? Guess the answer. "No." But I suspect she will be missed.

It's jolly hard work, let's be honest about it. The commitment is quite a major one. But it's the commitment that makes it enjoyable. If I operate on a patient and it's scheduled to last an hour and it lasts for four, there's nothing I can do about that. I have to see it through to the end. To me the professional satisfaction has been caring for somebody, as far as is humanly possible, right through their illness." The second thing is to remain focused on that which is most important to you at every stage in your career, particularly if you take on something academic. There will be many demands on your time and it’s very easy to become distracted from what you’re supposed to be doing. But if you really want to do it, go for it. You can do it! I suppose what I always wanted was to reach the point where it was perfectly normal and unremarkable for surgeons to be female, and I believe at last, we are well on the way to achieving that.” a b Hanson, Michele (31 July 2002). "First lady of the theatre". The Guardian . Retrieved 8 October 2017.

Averil Mansfield | Waterstones Life in Her Hands by Averil Mansfield | Waterstones

Mansfield was born 11 years before the advent of the NHS – she recalls her parents saving money in a jar on the mantelpiece to pay medical bills – and witnessed the many benefits it provided as well as huge advances in technology during her years in practice. I would have liked children but I wasn’t able to with my first husband, so I just focused on the other things in my life,” says Mansfield. After qualifying as a doctor in 1960, Averil trained as a general surgeon, and became a consultant in Liverpool in 1972, at a time when just 2% of surgeons were women. At 5ft 10in, Mansfield was certainly an imposing figure in the operating theatre. She excelled at every stage, scoring top marks in her surgical exams. She was outraged when the Dean of St Mary’s, Professor Peter Richards, issued a statement that she was appointed “purely and only on merit”. Averil said: “It suddenly must have occurred to him, ‘Oh, perhaps everyone will think we are giving her the job because she is a woman’.”Averil's account shines light on a medical and societal world that has changed beyond measure, but which - as she shows through her experiences - still has a long way to go for the women finding their place within it. In 1991 Mansfield was invited to set up an organisation, through the Royal College of Surgeons, called Women in Surgical Training, which later became Women in Surgery, to ‘encourage, enable and inspire’ other females to follow her lead. Of course, women have struggled in the past, but Mansfield, who is 65, insists that surgery can be plain sailing, the perfect career for a woman and.... I believe her. She exudes trust. She is tall, calm, imposing, charming and if I had to have an enormous five-hour, life-threatening operation, I would want her to do it. But time and again, Averil proved herself more than capable of the role which had been her greatest dream since the age of eight. Today, 17% of surgeons are women, although male consultant surgeons still outnumber females by a ratio of 8:1. Membership of Women in Surgery, which also welcomes medical students, has grown to 6,000.

Averil Mansfield: Britain’s trailblazing female surgeon Averil Mansfield: Britain’s trailblazing female surgeon

I don’t believe I did anything exceptional during all those years, any more or less than anyone else in my position would have done,” she says. “I was extremely fortunate to have a lot of help all the way along, not least in the early years when I was trained by a wonderful surgeon, Edgar Parry, whose aspiration it was to make the next generation of surgeons better than he was. That’s a sentiment I’ve always admired and tried to emulate.She was also honorary consultant in paediatric and vascular surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital and founded the first training programme for women at the Royal College of Surgeons. Her motto throughout her career was “lift as you climb”. Mansfield’s gratitude to the supportive colleagues and superiors she encountered – first at Liverpool’s Broadgreen Hospital and later at Hillingdon Hospital and St Mary’s Paddington, in London – was magnified when she heard evidence given to the Royal College of Surgeons Working Party on discrimination in surgery in 2021.

Averil O. Mansfield (Hardback) - Coles Books Life in Her Hands by Averil O. Mansfield (Hardback) - Coles Books

The book, Life in Her Hands, details Averil’s trailblazing career, qualifying as a surgeon in 1972, a time when just two per cent of her colleagues were female. She received little encouragement from her teachers, either, and is amused by the memory of one school report that said she was ‘no good at sewing’, given what an expert in suturing she became.

Camilla was full of good humour and we spent time together in a studio afterwards, talking to TV channels, until she suddenly said: ‘I think I’d better go home now. We’ve got rather a busy week’. It was the week of Harry and Meghan’s wedding!” a b c d e f g h Barrett, Anne (2017). Women at Imperial College: Past, Present and Future. World Scientific. pp.173–180. ISBN 978-1-78634-264-5. University of Liverpool graduate Averil Mansfield CBE has published the inspiring story of her journey to become the UK’s first-ever female vascular surgeon and first female Professor of surgery. Mansfield began her career at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, and became a consultant vascular surgeon there in 1972 and later a lecturer in surgery at the University of Liverpool. She then moved to London in 1980 to work at Hillingdon Hospital. Two years later, she was appointed by St Mary's Hospital in Paddington as a consultant vascular surgeon. [1] She was an honorary senior lecturer at St Mary's Hospital Medical School, which merged with the Imperial College School of Medicine in 1988. [1] [3] She remained at St Mary's for the rest of her career, while also serving as an honorary consultant in paediatric and vascular surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital. [1]