Throughout a professional career that spanned social work and counselling for nearly 30 years, Lorrie Hudson, my manager and friend, who has died aged 50, demonstrated compassion and commitment to providing the best possible service to those in her care.
Whether, as at the beginning of her career, those clients were pregnant teenagers in the valleys of south Wales, victims of social injustice in a deprived London borough, under-fives in a wealthy suburb, patients in need of assistance at a struggling inner-city hospital, or, for the last 15 years, people overwhelmed by their experiences of assisted fertility – all benefited equally from her passion.
Lorrie was born in Liverpool and went to Childwall school there. She trained at Cardiff University and later gained a degree in psychology at John Moores University, Liverpool. She was originally employed by the city's social services department to provide support to the Bedford clinic in the Liverpool Women's Hospital. Her interest in the field of reproductive medicine led her in the mid-1990s to a counselling post at the newly emerging Hewitt Centre for Reproductive Medicine in Liverpool. There she created and developed a responsive and dedicated team.
Lorrie brought clarity and confidence to complex cases. Her contributions to policy-making within the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority were well-regarded. Her lively, down-to-earth approach made her popular in the British Infertility Counselling Association.
Diagnosed with cancer at the end of last year, Lorrie responded with characteristic stoicism. She was determined to continue to enjoy life. The woman for whom the word vivacious could well have been coined insisted on joining girlfriends on a giggly weekend jaunt to London. Dedication to work and friendship was always balanced against the main priority in Lorrie's life – the needs of her family. She is survived by her husband, Chris, their daughter, Emmy, their sons, Jack and Chas, and her father, Eric. Lorrie's mother, Gill, predeceased her.