Interview with newly elected WinS Chair Felicity Meyer

Interview conducted by WinS Forum member, Cait Bleakley

Congratulations on being elected as our new Chair. How have you been feeling since you got the news?

I've been feeling more shocked than I thought I was going to. It's the realisation of what this role means; it's a real responsibility. The responsibility has hit me more than I expected. I found out a couple of weeks ago, and I have had so many messages of support and congratulations over X (formerly Twitter), and then my local trust put out a statement in our comms. So, it feels like the whole hospital is aware of it. I have had so many colleagues, ranging from fellow consultants to our domestic staff, come up and say, "Well done", which has been lovely.  

I work at a relatively small hospital, so people holding national roles from there don't feel like a commonplace thing. I have been surprised but humbled by how excited everyone seems to be about it. I hadn't really expected that. 

Could you tell us a bit more about your career so far? Where have you been, and what have you been up to?

Well, I started life wanting to be a research haematologist. I actually did some research on Graft vs. Host disease as a student during my science degree before starting my clinical studies. I went to Oxford, where the curriculum is very much split into pre-clinical and clinical years, so I didn't intend to become a surgeon during my pre-clinical years.  

When I started my clinical years, I knew I wanted to be a surgeon. I was more suited to that career. So, I tried to get into theatre as much as I could, and it helped that I had many encouraging female registrars and consultants in plastics, general surgery, and vascular surgery around me.  

Just after medical school, I got married and didn't immediately have a job. Now that I was married, I knew I had to base myself around South-East Thames. I got a job at Medway, which was nearby. It was really busy and a lot of operating, so it was a great place to be. I then went on to do a military job, followed by a year in Canada as a surgical resident. That year was great as it gave me an excellent grounding in surgery. I then returned to do A&E in Oxford, followed by my SHO training in Medway, with my higher surgical training around that region. Being married gave me a real focus on where I needed to get a job. 

Once I was a registrar and was secure in my training post, I had my first two children quite close together. I had finished a two-year research post before I went less-than-full-time (LTFT) with my two children. At that point, I just felt like I was failing on both fronts, being a surgeon and a mother, so going LTFT allowed me to settle my life down a bit. I was working at Lewisham and Maidstone at this point.  

Prior to becoming a consultant, I did a senior fellowship job at Tommy's because I felt I needed the vascular experience. These days, I think the training is improved with the focused vascular run-through training, but back then, I had to do a lot of general operating. I then went on to get my Consultant job in Norwich in 2003. My husband could move around then, so we knew we would go where I got my job. Norfolk is a lovely place to live, there's no question. I had my third child after being appointed, so I properly started in 2004. 

When I started, the unit was great, and they suggested I get into management as we didn't have a strategy for developing our unit. I also got involved with teaching at the University of East Anglia (UEA). So, I have held various medical management roles since then. I am now the Deputy Medical Director at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King's Lynn, and I do my clinical work as a vascular surgeon both there and at Norfolk and Norwich.  

What does a typical working week look like for you? 

I have clinical time on a Monday morning and all day Tuesday split across the two sites, and then the rest of the week is spent with my management roles. I do one in eight weekends on call and will also then do a whole day operating list on a Thursday of that week. It's very flexible though, so if someone needs a hand in theatre, for example, I can arrange it so that I go and help them. I'm easily bored, so I enjoy having this flexibility and not having two weeks that are the same. I'm also currently a clinical supervisor in my hospital, and of course, I also have my work with WinS, which happens alongside my other managerial roles. I want to limit my roles to these now so I have enough time for everything. 

What do you enjoy doing outside of work? 

I love walking. Two years ago, I took a sabbatical, and my husband and I embarked on a walk that took us from our house to the furthest point away from it, Cape Wrath. It was 901 miles. I wasn't very fit when we started, but I was by the time we finished.  

We still do a lot of walking. We're currently walking from home to Land's End, but in 2-week chunks, so we're two-thirds through with that now. We've also done from our house to Lowestoft as that's the most easterly point in the UK. After Land's End, we're thinking of walking the length of Ireland. Our kids also enjoy walking. It's not uncommon for us to do a nice long country walk on a Sunday but break it up with somewhere lovely for lunch. In between, I also run and do Zumba. I previously sang in our hospital choirs, but I've been struggling to make it to the rehearsals recently.  

How long have you been involved with Women in Surgery? 

I have been a part of it since it was WiST (Women in Surgical Training). It must have been before I was a fellow; the College would send out information asking you to get in touch if you wished to be a part of it. It seemed to go quiet during my training, but then it was relaunched as WinS. Before this, I supervised some research via WiST on why women stay in surgery. It turns out that mentorship was a big part of it, regardless of whether this mentor was male or female. It also seemed from the results that WiST wasn't being mentioned, and then it was around this time it got relaunched as WinS. 

WinS has been much more active since then, for example, with the medical school WinS groups. I would always attend the UEA meetings. I think WinS is so important. When I went to LTFT, I went to see their LTFT advisor at the College; she was so useful and helpful. I wouldn't have known about that resource if it weren't for WinS.  

Since becoming a consultant, I have become more involved as I feel you understand the blocks faced during training. I felt like I was sailing through my training until I had children when I hit choppy waters. I'd love to say difficult things don't still happen, but I think they do. I don't think we appreciate how hard training can be, but then we meet up at our WinS conferences and meetings, and they're always so inclusive and supportive; it's a great environment to get together and discuss this stuff. We still have a way to go when you look at the sexual misconduct report and even the recent GMC trainee survey.  

Why do you think people should get involved with WinS, and why does WinS remain important? 

I think the networking opportunities WinS provides are really important, and often, I think it is more difficult for women to network for all sorts of reasons. So, even if you feel like you are not having any difficulties with your training, having this network available is still helpful for countless reasons. It's also an excellent way to get involved with your College.  

In terms of WinS's importance, we need to stop the attrition of female trainees leaving surgery and review why this is happening. Then, of course, there is the work coming out based on Breaking the Silence, the report from the Working Party on Sexual Misconduct in Surgery. I don't feel that the report would have necessarily happened had WinS not been a thing. Based on this report, the outcomes from the College have been meaningful, so I think it is right that we have our own group and network within the College.  

Things need to be better. They are perhaps better than they were, but they are still not perfect. I think WinS is important to ensure we do not normalise bad behaviour by contrasting it with what went on in past times. This, of course, goes beyond surgery and throughout medicine as a whole.  

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