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WENTS & Friends
WENTS & Friends
Back to the Scalpel: Taking Leave and Returning to Training
In this episode, ENT registrar Michaella Cameron discusses her personal experiences of taking leave and returning to training, navigating both planned and unexpected breaks, including maternity leave and shielding. Michaella opens up about the challenges and anxieties of stepping away from surgical training, the vulnerability of returning, and the crucial role of mentorship, supportive supervisors, and dedicated return-to-training programmes. She shares practical advice on the power of building networks, using resources like SuppoRTT, and proactively managing both the psychological and technical aspects of coming back to work.
The conversation highlights the need to normalise time out of training, celebrate transferable skills gained during leave, and encourage a culture of kindness and support. Michaella’s passion for improving the system is clear, with her “Back to the Scalpel” initiative aiming to provide more holistic, confidence-building support for returners. The episode is a must-listen for anyone considering or preparing for a break from clinical training.
WENTS & Friends is the official podcast for Women in ENT Surgery UK.
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Thank you to all of our guests for this season and to Karl Storz UK and the ENT UK Foundation for sponsoring season two of Went and Friends, the podcast of Women in ENT Surgery.
This season’s episodes are hosted by Alex Ashman. Produced and directed by Heather Pownall @heathershub of Heather's Media Hub Ltd. The podcast was created by Ekpemi Irune. The rest of the team includes Anna Slovick, Katherine Conroy, Marie Lyons, Tanya Ta, and Alex Ashman.
Karl Storz are proud sponsors of this podcast. Discover why Karl Storz is the name synonymous with innovation, precision, and excellence in the world of surgical endoscopy.
ALEX
This is Wents and Friends, the podcast of Women in ENT Surgery UK. I'm your host Alex Ashman. This season we'll be looking at key career advice on returning to training, working less than full time and applying for fellowships. And we'll be looking at factors that can make the working lives of women and minority individuals more challenging and what we can do about them.
Today we'll be talking to Miss Michaella Cameron, an ENT registrar in London, about her experience of taking leave and returning to training. But first a brief word about our sponsors. The Wents and Friends podcast is sponsored by Karl Storz UK, who have kindly supported the podcast from the beginning and continue to do so for a second season. The podcast is also sponsored by the ENT UK Foundation, who have kindly supported the season with an educational grant. Thank you to Karl Storz UK and ENT UK Foundation for their support.
Miss Michaella Cameron is an ENT registrar in London. She's worked as program coordinator for the Lewin Program with Melanin and Medics. She's had roles with SFO and BRS. She's an RCS England Emerging Leaders Program member, a member of the Women in Surgery Forum and also a mother of two. So welcome, Michaella.
Michaella
Thank you Alex for inviting me today to speak on topics very, very dear to my heart. I'd also like to add, just taking off my committee hat and clinician hat, I would like to say that I hope my friends and my colleagues would also describe me as someone who's just really enthusiastic about ENT as a specialty on the whole, caring to patients, but also most importantly, approachable to all. I'm also very passionate in general about surgical leadership, equity in training and making a space for women to thrive in ENT on their terms.
ALEX
I'm so glad we've got you on today. I wanted to ask before we get into the discussion about returning to training, how do you keep all those plates spinning? How do you sort of distribute your time to each task in turn? How do you manage that?
Michaella
I say that it is difficult. I have leaned into various levels of mentorship and actually on my way here I was speaking to Felicity Meyer, who's chair of WINS, and I asked her the exact question: how do you keep going? She has so many plates spinning and she still finds time to support me in my various initiatives. And I echo what she has said actually: it's important that what you are doing resonates with your why and your core values.
I don't think it's wise to do things that are just a tick box because you would run yourself at risk of burnout or feeling excessively overwhelmed or excessively anxious. So it's important to prioritise and celebrate the small wins. So my to-do list is always long. No matter what I do to try to shorten it, there's always something else popping up. But it gives me joy. It gives me a sense of fulfillment and purpose. And that's what gives me that energy to keep going.
After every day, if I can say I've ticked off one task, I celebrate that. And I say, that's a good job, Michaella. Let's keep going until we can't. And just the next day, just keep going with that positive mindset. Sometimes you might have a season where you're focusing on being top of the list registrar, or sometimes you need to carve out time to spend with your family and your children or carve out time for just you time, me time.
One of the things I like to do, and I say this to my friends and they laugh, is there was a year, two years ago, where every Wednesday after my morning list, I would go to a Japanese restaurant just by myself. They know me so well. They know exactly what I like to order, exactly what I like to drink with my ramen noodles. But that's 40 minutes or two hours just for me to be by myself, be in my thoughts and just enjoy being alone.
So it's difficult, but it's achievable. And to echo what Felicity Meyer said to me this morning, we often underestimate what we can achieve. And it's important not to get into your head about things. It can work just with the right tools.
ALEX
That's very sensible. So the first thing I want to talk about with you today in terms of taking leave is when you're in that position where you know you're going to be taking an extended period of training, be it for maternity, be it for health, be it for whatever other project or thing that you need to do. What sort of planning is involved? What lessons have you learned from going through that process a couple of times?
Michaella
Yes, so I'm actually on my second maternity leave. Three years ago, I embarked unplanned into a nine to ten months of shielding during my first pregnancy. That was not something I expected, but it was the safest thing to do for me. And then I took 12 months out for my first maternity leave.
So I would firstly like to say that stepping out of training, having now gone through it twice, can feel like you are stepping off a conveyor belt, a moving train. I'd never taken any time out of either medical school or residency until then. But with planning, support, and most importantly being comfortable with uncertainty, it can become a time of immense growth.
When I took time out the very first time, my mentors really helped me stay positive because I did feel quite despondent. I was worried that taking time out meant that I was going to be behind in training—behind because of the COVID pandemic, but now also behind because I was taking time out longer than I had planned. So it was a difficult time to be honest, Alex, back then, but I would say that I was able to flip it on the head and actually achieve a lot of things outside of just operating.
What helped me? Three things. Leaning into supervisors who I wholeheartedly came to really trust. I had a few, but there were three in particular: my educational supervisor at the time, Mr. Aiden Lewis, who's a rhinologist; Ms. Sonna Ifeacho, who was a previous clinical supervisor but an honorary big sister, I would call her now; and the program director at the time, Mr. Tarran Tatla.
What they really did well was they saw me as a human being as opposed to just a registrar or a number. They allowed me to be vulnerable and to speak about the things that were causing me levels of anxiety. They normalised taking time out of training. They said to me, “Michaella, this is important.” And actually, Mr. Aiden Lewis said to me, “Do you know, Michaella, you're going to come back after this time out as a mother and you might find yourself being an even better registrar with that additional learned experience, new empathy, new focus.”
At the time I thought to myself, I'm not sure I can see where he's going here, but now I can say I absolutely know what he meant. Only 10% of doctors take time out during their training. So 10% is actually quite a minority group if you think about it—90% of people don't.
I gave a talk at International Women's Day for WINS at the Royal College a couple of months ago, and I took that opportunity to survey the attendees just to find out what their experiences were if they had taken time out. About 41% of the attendees had taken time out, and the two top reasons were maternity or academia.
When I asked them about the biggest challenges with regards to going back into training, the responses included uncertainty about being trusted to do the job again, anxiety about looking or feeling rusty, anxiety about confidence in operating, and lastly, the mum or dad guilt of leaving children at home and missing milestones.
So it is a vulnerable season to be in when you've taken time out and are trying to prepare to go back into training stronger than before.
ALEX
What advice would you have for those who are going to be taking leave in the near future? I mean, do they have to be proactive in reaching out for the support? Is anything going to sort of happen automatically or does it really have to be sort of do it yourself and go out and find your mentors, find your support, find out how things work?
Michaella
It shouldn't be down to the registrar or the clinician, because people take time out of work in general when they're not in training. So ideally it shouldn't be just down to the individual to know about the resources or signpost themselves to links or help.
But a good starting point, I would say, is meeting with your educational supervisor and being aware of platforms such as SupporTT. SupporTT's really good and the whole premise is, as the name suggests, helping clinicians return back into training in a smoother way.
You can find three forms to complete which will shape discussions you should be having with your educational supervisor. And those three forms are your pre-absence form (before you go off), your pre-return form (ideally 12 to 16 weeks before returning back to work), and then your follow-up form when you've gone back to work. Ideally as soon as you can, touch base with the educational supervisor just to frame areas you want to work on, perhaps when you're off and when you go back.
An example could be connecting with a career coach so you can strategise how to improve how you show up to work, your communication skills. There’s also resilience training, public speaking, or revision support. These are things you can get through SupporTT for free. So you can find a career coach or a mentor, and I found that quite helpful because it helped me consider and reflect on my personal and professional goals.
I would also say, don’t forget your “why.” I alluded to the “why” initially when we started speaking. Why do you want to go back to work? Why do you want to continue being a registrar or consultant? When you have doubts, figuring out your why will help you be excited and confident about returning.
And just to finish off, I would say that the skills you can gain when you are on maternity leave or academic time out of program can definitely shape your next phase.
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ALEX
You were saying about SupporTT, obviously SupporTT being support with two T’s on the end because it's Returning to Training in capitals. We'll pop a link in the description, in the show notes about that. Moving on to returning to training, when you came back, did you make use of any of the things that SupporTT offers, like being supernumerary for a period or considering less than full-time training or anything else like that?
Michaella
Good question, thank you. I absolutely did. I would say coming back to training is a mix of emotions. Despite me engaging with my program director and creating a phased return back to work and completing several sessions with a career coach, I still had a little inkling of doubt—do I still have it? Have I lost my edge?
I would say that I felt a lot more confident restarting, having engaged with SupporTT. I did apply for funding, which I would not have known about if I hadn't engaged with SupporTT. So there is funding you can apply for, which goes directly to your department. What they use that funding for could be many things.
What I used it for was to cover my on-calls during the first four weeks. That was helpful because the department was able to get funding to pay for locums to cover my on-calls, and I was given space to get used to being back in the workplace during hours.
As you know, Alex, being an ENT registrar, if you're able to, you can do your on-calls offsite, although it's not very common that you get called out overnight depending on where you work. But there's still that worry: do I feel comfortable operating on my own overnight or dealing with an emergency? And there are no medals for bravery. I quote a military consultant I used to work for back in Frimley: there are no medals for bravery. So it’s okay, and let’s normalise that it’s okay to want to take a bit of time to get used to working again, particularly out of hours.
There's also the Physician Mums group on Facebook, which is really, really helpful. There are archived and current posts that are so honest and very relatable, which made me feel less out in the wilderness and less overwhelmed with getting used to going back. Reading others' experiences and what helped them did help me too.
ALEX
I mean, yeah, we've had colleagues returning to training in Oxford who did exactly as you said. They were supernumerary for a time, off the on-call rota, shadowed slightly senior colleagues to get the feel for it, and then when they felt ready they went straight back in and got on, which is lovely.
Michaella
Yes, shadowing is important just to add. So “Keeping in Touch” days are an opportunity I would recommend to everyone, even if you've been out of training before.
What I did was two weeks or a week before I went back into training, I went to my local hospital and I just went to theatre. Again, I shadowed a rhinologist and I just got used to hearing the lingo in theatre again. I got used to running through the WHO checklist, simple things like that, and holding the zero-degree scope. I didn’t necessarily operate, but just hearing the instrument names again helped me a lot.
So when I was then registrar in theatre, doing something simple like a standard FESS, I felt like, okay, I’ve done this a couple of weeks ago, let’s get the muscle memory going again. That helped my psychological preparation for going back into the theatre workplace again.
ALEX
Absolutely. You really want to have that muscle memory switch back on when you go back into things, don’t you?
Michaella
Yes, you just do the first couple of steps. That helps. You won’t be expected to do the whole procedure, but just being able to, I don’t know, decongest the nose—that’s a win.
ALEX
I mean, is there anything you'd do differently or you think you're doing differently this time round? Any advice for those who'll be returning to training soon?
Michaella
It's important to be in the moment. My career coach would also say it’s important to be kind to yourself and allow yourself to grow outside of surgery, outside of being a clinician. So what I will be doing this time is travelling more, Alex.
The first time out, I did not go on holiday—tut tut tut. This time, although I might not be going to the Bahamas for two months, I will definitely be going on short but frequent holidays just to really switch off and immerse myself on the beach somewhere with a mocktail or cocktail.
Other things I would have done differently, in all seriousness, is I probably would have sat down with my supervisors more intentionally when I first started and outlined my expectations and confirmed their expectations of the job. When you haven’t taken time out, between jobs or hospitals can be rocky at the best of times. Imagine taking two years out, which I had taken the first time around.
I hope we are encouraged to be vulnerable with educational supervisors, and I hope that culture of vulnerability becomes more normalised. I wanted to really show that I was able to catch up quickly and that I was no different to my colleagues who had not taken time out. But I think that’s the wrong mindset—it’s actually a trap.
I think it’s important to say honestly: I really want you to talk through this operation a bit slower, I want to ask more questions, I want to observe more. What do you expect of me? Having that candid talk at the beginning is crucial. And although the day-to-day is really busy, being intentional about carving out time to get feedback—more frequent feedback than you might have had if you hadn’t taken time out—is so important.
That’s what I would have done differently: meet more frequently throughout the job and be clear about what I wanted to get out of it.
ALEX
That sounds like very good advice. You're in a position of being an emerging leader and being involved in women’s surgery networks. As you go forward, what do you feel that you would be lobbying to have changed? What do you think should be done to improve the system of both people taking leave and returning to training for maternity reasons or for other reasons? Based on your journey and your experiences, what do you think needs changing over time?
Michaella
So firstly, I'll say that the Emerging Leaders Fellowship—I had applied during my first maternity leave because I really wanted to work on my softer skills and generally to figure out what type of leader I am and how I see myself leading as I became more senior. I wanted to figure out what tools I needed to shape. The fellowship initiative was fantastic, and that's how I met you, Alex.
It was launched in 2015 and it's a two-year structured program. It helps women and non-binary individuals find their voice in leadership. With that experience, I became a lot more confident in feeling that I could affect change. I was placed in networks that, if you have an idea, they will help you grow it.
What I’m really excited about is an initiative I am creating with WINS and the Royal College. It’s centred on the premise that surgery isn’t one-size-fits-all. We need to make space for more diverse journeys. That’s how we make our profession stronger and how we retain people like myself who have to take time out for various reasons and come back stronger.
So my project is called Back to the Scalpel. It came to me one night—I just had an epiphany: I’m going to call it Back to the Scalpel. Essentially it is about building an intentional return-to-training program. One that doesn’t just focus on logistics (the form fill-ins—we know how to do that now). Instead, it’s focusing on identity, confidence and creating a sense of belonging.
In particular, it’s really innovative because I want to incorporate extended reality and simulation, which would allow clinicians returning to work to work through scenarios they might be anxious about before they go back. For example: maybe a boss whose language or personality you found difficult to understand despite your best efforts. How about working through that scenario in extended reality, where you figure out better communication strategies to tackle it?
Flexibility, adaptability—so when you go back to work you feel emboldened to manage the different types of trainers you might meet along the way. It’s a work in progress, but I’m really excited about it. We should be soft launching by the end of the year.
Representation really does matter, and I want to challenge the outdated idea of what a typical surgeon looks like. I probably don’t fit the mould, but I want to reshape the notion that the more the merrier.
ALEX
That makes complete sense. That sounds like a really useful project. So I think probably that’s all I wanted to ask you today. We talked about taking leave and the lessons you’ve learned there. We talked about returning to training, and in both cases how useful the SupporTT program is and your experiences with it.
We’re really looking forward to seeing what you have for us in the next year or so in terms of a more structured program with the College for surgeons returning to work. I just want to say thank you very much for joining us. It’s been really, really interesting and really useful. Is there anything else you want to say before we finish?
Michaella
I would say that taking leave isn’t necessarily a pause. It’s part of a journey, and I think it will become more common as the years go on. You can grow, add more bows or feathers. But it’s important to build your support network—even if it doesn’t exist, create it, whether it’s a Facebook group, a leadership fellowship, friends, or family.
Lean in. You don’t need to be that typical surgeon—you can be a very good surgeon on your own terms. And this is for myself: it’s okay to ask for help often, because one day you’ll be that person someone else reaches for, and you’ll be ready to pass on the baton. And just be kind. That’s the most important thing—be kind.
ALEX
To see climb as you say.
Michaella
Yes—as you climb. Thank you.
ALEX
Thank you for joining us for another episode of Wents and Friends, the podcast of Women in ENT Surgery UK. If you've enjoyed this episode, please make sure you subscribe on your podcast app of choice, leave us a review and share it on social media.
Don’t forget that we have a back catalogue of episodes on a range of subjects from mat leave and menopause to surgical training and culture change. We're on Twitter, Threads, Instagram and LinkedIn, so make sure you follow us for details of upcoming episodes and events.
And if you're an ENT UK member, you can join Wents UK if you haven't already via your online membership page. Thanks again to all of our guests for this season and to Karl Storz UK and ENT UK Foundation for sponsoring season two of Wents and Friends, the podcast of Women in ENT Surgery UK.
Wents and Friends is produced and directed by Heather Pownall of Heather's Media Hub. The podcast was created by Ekpemi Iruni. The rest of the team includes Anna Slovick, Katherine Conroy, Marie Lyons, Tanya Ta and me, Alex Ashman.
Next week, we'll be talking to Ms Lizzie Maughan about integrating clinical research roles and taking time out of program for research. Until then, take care and thanks for listening.
