Celebrating birthday honours for Imperial College Healthcare consultant, nurse, lay partner and retired professor
Professor Averil Mansfield CBE has been awarded a damehood for services to surgery and to equality in medicine; consultant gynaecologist Alan Farthing has been awarded a commander of Royal Victorian Order (RVO); with nurse Brenda Deocampo and lay partner Trish Longdon awarded MBEs, both for services to healthcare in The King’s first Birthday Honours.
Averil, worked at St Mary’s Hospital as a vascular surgeon from 1982 to 2022, and in 1993 became the first female professor of surgery in the United Kingdom. She was appointed a CBE in 1999 for services to surgery and women in medicine. She has made an outstanding national contribution to healthcare, academia and equality. In addition to her leading roles as president of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland, the Vascular Surgical Society and the BMA; Vice President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England; and Chair of Council of The Stroke Association; in 1991 she was also founding chair of Women in Surgical Training, which is a hugely successful networking group. She continues to inspire students and young doctors by travelling around the UK to speak to them about their future careers.
Alan, is a consultant gynaecologist, specialising in gynaecology and gynaecology cancers at Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea and St Mary’s hospitals. He is also part of the royal medical household and was a member of the teams that delivered Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis at The Lindo Wing.
Brenda, a ward manager at Charing Cross Hospital, has held a range of nursing roles at the Trust over the past 21 years. She met her husband Ralph, a site nurse practitioner, at the Trust 18 years ago and was at Charing Cross to help welcome him back to work after he spent five months recovering from Covid-19 and following a long spell in intensive care.
Trish, who held senior positions in the public and voluntary sectors before retiring, has chaired the Trust's strategic lay forum for over four years and was a lay partner in NHS organisations in north west London for many years before. As a lay partner, Trish helps ensure organisations like the Trust involve and listen and respond to the views and needs of patients and local communities. Trish was a key contributor to the Trust's Covid-19 response, taking part in daily meetings with clinicians and others to help ensure care policies and safety decisions reflected the needs of patients and their families.
Chief executive Professor Tim Orchard said: “I’m delighted that Averil, Alan, Brenda and Trish have received these hugely deserved honours. They all share a passion and commitment to making our care truly patient-focused and are also incredibly supportive of all our staff. They embody our organisational values – to be kind, collaborative, aspirational and expert – and I know I speak on behalf of everyone in the organisation when I say how proud we are that they are Imperial People!”
