Plarr’s Lives of the Fellows

Ann Maureen Skelly, known as Meg, a consultant at Guy’s Hospital, London, was a dental academic whose career was distinguished by her leadership in the development of dental sedation techniques and teaching in the United Kingdom. Born on 18 February 1947, Skelly’s early professional training was in nursing. She entered St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London as a student nurse in the mid-1960s, later completing specialist education in anaesthetic nursing at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford. Her subsequent clinical experience included periods working overseas in both Canada and Norway. On returning to Britain, she was appointed as an anaesthetic sister at Dulwich Hospital, London, a post that proved formative in shaping her later academic and clinical interests. Skelly entered Guy’s Hospital Dental School in 1973, embarking on a second professional career in dentistry. Following qualification, she remained at Guy’s, holding a series of academic appointments that combined teaching with clinical practice. Her eventual appointment as a senior lecturer and honorary consultant in dental sedation was notable for its novelty, representing one of the earliest recognitions of sedation as a defined academic and clinical discipline within dentistry. With the support of the department of anaesthetics, this role culminated in the creation of the first dedicated department of sedation and special care dentistry in the UK at the United Medical and Dental Schools (UMDS)/Guy’s Hospital in 1996. Throughout her career, Skelly was instrumental in establishing national standards for sedation teaching and practice. She educated large numbers of dentists in sedation techniques, enabling wider access to safe dental care for anxious patients. Her influence extended through her trainees, many of whom later developed new multidisciplinary training programmes in procedural conscious sedation. She also contributed extensively to the academic literature, authoring research papers and educational texts that helped define and extend the field. Beyond her clinical and scholarly work, Skelly played a significant role in institutional leadership. She served for a decade as student admissions director at UMDS, later Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’ (GKT) Dental Institute from 1996, and was elected president of Guy’s Hospital Dental Society in 1992. Her contributions were formally recognised in 2007 with the award of the distinguished service award by GKT. Regarded as a principled and effective departmental leader, Skelly fostered a culture of collaboration and excellence, ensuring the sustainability of the service she established beyond her retirement in 2007. She was admired for her generosity of spirit, patience and understated humour. Meg Skelly died on 31 January 2025 after a prolonged illness, aged 77. Her legacy endures in the generations of clinicians she trained and in the continuing evolution of dental sedation practice in the UK.