Andy Mosson
A tribute on his retirement by Bob Price SCKPA treasurer
On a beautiful day last September, Andy gave a presentation at our AGM. Andy informed us that as a child he was given a present of Meccano which he loved and was fortunate enough to pursue as a career as a renal technician.
We are so fortunate that Andy chose to serve most of his career at the Oxford Kidney Unit. Many kidney patients will have seen Andy and his team floating around the dialysis units busying themselves on the machines that fail. They are part of the ‘backroom’ team that keep the dialysis units working successfully.
Those who dialyse at home on home haemodialysis, have a close relationship with Andy and his team. It usually involves patients phoning the team in panic when the machine mis-behaves. We are blessed that we can speak to Andy and his team who calm us down and gently talk us through, correcting the mishap.
Andy is always calm, kind and professional and above all patient. This ethos is evident as it has permeated with his team which he leads so successfully. Andy has never forgotten his Meccano as he fixes machines and systems using whatever he can find around the workshop. He may have been inspired by Dr. Oliver, who set up the kidney unit in the mid 1960’s, who was also a genius at adapting and thinking laterally at problems, both pushing the boundaries on a tight budget.
How blessed we are to have Andy, Dr Oliver and many others who serve kidney patients so selflessly. One patient described how Andy corrected the machine problem over the phone by using a clothes peg and a teaspoon! Many of those patients falling ill with Covid have found themselves going into acute kidney failure requiring dialysis.
We would love to invite Andy to visit us again in the future to describe how he and his team managed during this emergency.