Alan Deakin sadly passed away

February 14, 2020

We are sorry to report the sad death of Alan Deakin, who was our chief technologist until 2 years ago.

Alan was one of the most committed employees of the Nuclear Medicine department, who truly enjoyed his job.  Alan never had a cross word for anyone, and the only time anyone had a cross word for Alan was when he would turn up very early for work and do all the work.

Alan initially started out in Engineering , and got an HNC in Applied Physics. However in 1981 he decided to switch careers, and joined our nuclear medicine department as a trainee technologist.

He obtained the Higher BTEC qualification in Medical Physics in 1984, and continued in this career working through the grades with various promotions. He joined the UHB (QE then!) in 1987 and in 2001 joined Walsall Manor. However like a number of staff who have trained here and left , he came back to join us in 2002 as deputy chief technologist. Alan was always keen to take on the more complex studies such as brain imaging, and was our lead technologist for paediatric studies. Alan was also passionate about training new staff, keen to pass on his knowledge so others could also carry out the more complex procedures. All the senior Technologists in our department were trained in some part by Alan, including several, who like Alan joined as trainees and are still with us now. Everyone knew that Alan could always be depended on to help out if they had a tricky scan to process or needed help with a patient.

For the last two years with us Alan was Chief technologist until his retirement. However Alan still kept up his support for the department as he joined the Trust Bank, and helped out with the Cardiac Stressing for myocardial perfusion scans.

Alan was universally liked by all colleagues. He was much more than just a worker or colleague, he was a friend to all those who worked with him, and often had evenings out with his ‘work family’.  Alan was also a very keen cook and a good amateur guitarist. But in particular Alan was an excellent amateur photographer, in particular nature photography, and had been on photographic safaris etc . His annual calendars were always a highlight.

Late in 2019 Alan’s health started to decline , and he was admitted to hospital and passed away on 1 January.

Alan is sorely missed and this has been a devastating time for all the department.