MDDUS is saying goodbye to three longstanding members of staff, part of the lifeblood of the organisation for the last nearly 40 years.
Dr Gail Gilmartin will be retiring in September from her role as medical and risk adviser. Gail graduated from Liverpool University and joined MDDUS in 1991 after working in general practice and various other specialist areas.
Gail worked over the years with other longstanding MDDUS advisers including Dr Ian Simpson and Dr Jim Rodger. Her expertise and wise and personable counsel to members (not to mention her writing skills) will be sorely missed by all.
In August, Leslie Hamilton and Karen Crainie also retired from the membership team after a combined service of 72 years. Leslie joined MDDUS in 1980 when the union had 13,078 members and the total subscription income for the year was £785,500. Today total MDDUS membership is well over 55,000 and the annual subscription income in 2018 was £133.6m. Both Leslie and Karen have contributed to this growth.
Karen started work at MDDUS in 1986 and recalls when members would queue up to pay their renewals in person, with the membership team swiping credit cards on a manual imprinting machine. It’s a much different world today with our online membership portal for renewal and payments – though in 2018 the team still dealt with 52,885 calls from members and potential new members.
All of us at MDDUS are sad to see our colleagues go but wish them all the best in no doubt busy retirements.
This page was correct at the time of publication. Any guidance is intended as general guidance for members only. If you are a member and need specific advice relating to your own circumstances, please contact one of our advisers.