RCoA Ethics Committee

The Ethics Committee is comprised of College representatives from Council, patient representatives, a legal representative and a number of anaesthetists with an active interest in ethics as well as other external stakeholders. 

The primary purpose of the committee is to provide independent critical analysis to the College on matters of ethics of relevance to the practice of anaesthesia, pain medicine and perioperative care. Committee members also support the College through speaking at events and providing educational resources on ethics-related issues, and by developing and maintaining relationships with other medical Royal Colleges. 

Committee Membership

Name Role
Dr Felicity Plaat Chair, Immediate past RCoA Council Member
Dr Paul Southall Vice-Chair, RCoA Council Member
Ms Sevim Ahmet Legal expert
Dr Elisa Bertoja Chair of CQRB
Dr Monika Beatty FICM representative
Dr Chris Carey RCoA Vice-President
Dr Peter Cole FPM representative
Dr Dale Gardiner RCoA Council Member
Prof Mike Grocott RCoA Council Member
Ms Megan Leach Lay representative
Dr Kate McCombe Anaesthetist with an interest in ethics
Dr Paul McConnell Anaesthetist with an interest in ethics
Dr Kenneth McKinley Anaesthetist with an interest in ethics
Dr John Shenouda Anaesthetist in training representative
Ms Veena Soni Lay representative

 

Ethics Committee Team

Sharon Drake
Deputy CEO and Director of Clinical Quality and Research

Sharon is responsible for an ambitious programme of healthcare improvement and research, which includes the development and delivery of national clinical guidelines and accreditation, national clinical audits and QI programmes. Sharon has worked in the education and healthcare sector for the last 26 years, both as an educator and a senior manager.

Sharon is also the College Director for the Centre for Perioperative Care (CPOC), a cross-specialty centre dedicated to the development of perioperative care for the benefit of patients and the healthcare community. She provides strategic leadership of the CPOC and is responsible for the delivery of a cross-organisational programme of work to embed perioperative care in the NHS.

Dr Felicity Plaat
RCoA Ethics Committee Chair

Dr Felicity Plaat qualified from the Middlesex Hospital in London after a degree in Social and political sciences from Cambridge University. She trained in anaesthesia in London and was appointed as a consultant anaesthetist at Imperial College NHS Trust based at Queen Charlotte’s & Hammersmith Hospitals in 1997. Her specialist areas are obstetric anaesthesia, medicolegal and ethical aspects of anaesthesia. Felicity is involved with multidisciplinary team-based training in the UK,  in resource poor countries and conflict zones. She is currently co-chair of SALG, chair of the RCoA Ethics Committee and Editor in chief of GPAS.

Felicity is a past Membership Secretary of the Association of Anaesthetists and a past President of the Obstetric Anaesthetists’ Association. She is a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Obstetric Anaesthesia

Register of Interests

  • Medicolegal work
  • President, Obstetric Anaesthetists’ Association (2017–2020)
  • Anaesthetic Assessor, MBRRACE-UK: Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK (a national maternal mortality audit)
  • Member of editorial board/reviewer for the International Journal of Obstetric Anaesthesia
  • Medical Advisory Panel Member, Baby Lifeline (charity)
  • Member of the working party of MOET (ALSG obstetric life support and trauma course)