The True Story of the UK’s First Female Vascular Surgeon

“I remember one such patient was a Mr Harper, whose bed was halfway down the ward and whose stay was prolonged as a result of infection and delayed healing. I looked after him throughout his stay and he marvelled at my tolerance of lack of sleep. Eventually he recovered and was well enough to be discharged. When he returned for his clinic appointment, he decided to come in to see me on the ward and entered through the far end, thus walking the whole length of the long room in order to visit me in the office. He was carrying a huge bunch of chrysanthemums with blooms about a foot across and declared as he walked through the ward that they were for the ‘lady doctor’. The result was that almost every patient present in the ward that day thought it was the required thing to present flowers to the ‘lady doctor’. I was inundated, in the nicest possible way.”

Averil Mansfield established herself as a pioneer in every sense of the word when she qualified as a surgeon in the early 1970s. At that time only two per cent of her colleagues were female. So, when she told people what she did for a living, she was often met with surprise, bordering on disbelief and even amusement. But Averil proved herself more than capable of the role, becoming the the UK’s first female vascular surgeon.  After a formidable operating career in Liverpool and London, during which she made many enduring friendships, she then went on to become the UK’s first female professor of surgery too. She has also won both a CBE in 1999 and an NHS Heroes Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.

Life in Her Hands is Averil’s memoir, in which she shares her truly remarkable life story and some of her fondest memories. Taking us through the decades from her childhood in 1930s Blackpool through to her qualification as a surgeon in the 70s and her retirement in the 00s, Averil reveals a world changed beyond measure. Through her experiences, though, she shows us that the world still has a long way to go for the women finding their place within it.

Avril today

Read or listen to Averil’s full story now in Life In Her Hands

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