Sad to say, both of the Electrocardiology group’s Senior Research ECG Technicians will have retired by the end of the 2021.

 Photo of thank you card and flower

Kathryn McLaren retired at the end of July after having worked in the Royal Infirmary as a Cardiac Physiologist since the late 1970s with a break to bring up her family.

Jean Watts has decided to retire at the end of 2021. She has not been so well recently and will not return to work before retiring, though the decision to retire was made prior to her recent illness. Jean has worked in the Royal Infirmary since the early 1970s, also with a break when her family arrived.

Jean and Kathryn have seen a lot of changes in the hospital structure in that time, not to mention enhancement to the type of equipment being used for ECG recording. It is hard to believe that what required a room full of equipment in the early days of automated ECG recording when they first worked in GRI can now be squeezed into a watch which can interpret heart rhythm and measure heart rate!

Kathryn looks forward to spending time with her grandchildren and simply being free to do what she pleases! Jean similarly intends to spend more time with her grandchildren and be free to venture up to Perthshire more frequently where she can spend time in her local pied a terre.

We wish them both a long and happy escape from having been around the Royal Infirmary for over 40 years!

We also say goodbye to Pamela Armstrong who recently completed year one of an MSc in Social Work at Caledonian University and who has now commenced on a full time practical placement, which was significantly delayed by COVID restrictions. Pamela joined the team in 2008 and a few years ago even found time to obtain an honours degree from the Open University. She departed with our sincere thanks and best wishes for her future career. 

First published: 28 June 2018

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