It is with great sadness that the East Midlands Branch of the Institute reports that Gordon F Pidcock died in November last year, aged 72.
After leaving the Mundella Grammar School, Nottingham, Gordon Pidcock’s engineering career started at the Royal Ordnance Factory. He went on to the Merchant Navy Blue Funnel Line where he very quickly became 2nd engineering officer, before joining the NHS as an engineering officer at Balderton Hospital in Nottingham.
During his career in the NHS, Gordon Pidcock held several notable positions, including chief engineer at the Royal Hallamshire Teaching Hospital, and district works officer and then director of estates for the Leicestershire Health Authority. He was a great believer in “manage or be managed” throughout his career in the NHS and promoted the role of engineers in management. He served on a patients’ forum for Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Trust for two years prior to his death.
Gordon Pidcock was very vocal at these meetings, especially with regard to new buildings and the control of infection, emphasising the benefits of single rooms, sensor-operated taps for hot and cold water supplies to hand wash basins, air conditioning in patient areas, and the correct frequency of domestic cleaning.
One of Gordon Pidcock’s greatest interests was flying light aircraft and only a few weeks prior to his death he was in the US with his son flying WWII fighters. Gordon Pidcock was a well-known and long-term member of the Institute, and IHEEM extends sympathies to his wife Marion, son Steven, daughter-in-law Diane, and granddaughter Lucinda on whom he doted.
