Tribute: Meriel Pope

Meriel registered in 1982 after graduating from Cardiff University and undertaking her pre-registration year at Basildon Hospital.

She worked for several years in hospital resident and staff grade jobs in Nottingham, Norwich, Southend, Ipswich, and Salisbury, where she was encouraged by her landlady to join the protestors at Greenham Common, sleeping in a tent at weekends.

Meriel travelled to India, which triggered a life-long love of visiting different countries. She also took time out from the NHS to go backpacking in Australia with one of her brothers, before visiting New Zealand. Upon returning to the UK, she undertook various long-term hospital locum posts, including in Jersey, Exeter and Ipswich, allowing her time to travel. Meriel then returned to New Zealand for several years, working in hospital and primary care posts, eventually attaining dual citizenship.

Missing her family, she returned home. Her continued enjoyment of exploring new places led Meriel to take long-term hospital locum posts in various areas of the country, including Hereford, Winchester and Cheltenham, before moving to Peterborough where she worked initially as a locum at Peterborough and Stamford NHS Trust, but was eventually persuaded to settle down and take a permanent post. Meriel finally specialised in mental health, something she had tried earlier in her career, working at the Cavell Centre for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust.

Wherever she worked, Meriel gained the respect of her colleagues, and made many lifelong friends along the way, lots of whom attended her recent funeral. Meriel had a wealth of knowledge, not only of medicines, but also of many of her patients’ specific problems and needs. She was a very principled and independent-minded person who always put her patients first, often being the last to leave the pharmacy department as she ensured all their specific pharmaceutical needs were safely met.

Despite undergoing extensive surgery, chemo and radiotherapy over the past three years, Meriel retained her positive outlook on life and in-between treatments would be back in the pharmacy, or travelling, demonstrating her amazing resilience in the face of such adversity.

Meriel had many varied interests including her allotment, which she loved, the film club in Peterborough, real ales and Radio 4 — in particular, The Archers.

She was considerate, warm and loving. Meriel will be greatly missed by her family, friends and work colleagues, who will always have wonderful memories of her as a very special person.