Stephen Henderson of MDDUS Retires
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- Published: Wednesday, 06 September 2023 07:41
- Written by Peter Ingle
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Stephen Henderson of the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland has announced that he is stepping down.
As the Head of the MDDUS dental division since May 2020, he joined the organisation as a dental adviser in 2018. This was a period of considerable expansion for MDDUS as it gained many new dental members south of the border, making it the fastest-growing medical indemnifier in the UK at the time. Prior to this he was a dental adviser and then senior adviser at Dental Protection, for seventeen years.
Qualifying in 1984, he obtained a master’s degree in medical law (LLM) in 2005. He worked in hospital practice and then practiced in Oxford where he continued to work as a visiting specialist in oral surgery. He has been the recipient of an honorary fellowship of the Faculty of General Dental Practice.
Announcing his departure MDDUS wrote: “The head of the dental division at MDDUS, Mr Stephen Henderson, is to retire from his role at the end of August. His knowledge has been an asset to MDDUS and he retires with our thanks and good wishes for the future. As he departs from the company, Mr Henderson said: “I am very proud to have been able to support MDDUS’s dental members for the past five years and I am confident that I leave our members and team in good hands.”
There were many responses from colleagues thanking him for his work.
Notable was a comment on twitter from John Cullinane the outgoing head of Fitness to Practice at the GDC, “Best wishes for your retirement, and thanks for your honest and constructive feedback over the past seven years!”
Fellow leaders Raj Rattan MBE and Len D’Cruz at indemnifiers Dental Protection and BDA indemnity also expressed their high regard for him. A common theme was his work on joint ventures in cooperation with other indemnifiers.
Another repeated comment was that he would be much missed. A glimpse of his style was revealed in an exchange with Stewart Duffy, Legal Director at Weightmans, who wrote:
Congratulations Stephen! It’s been a singular pleasure working with you over the last 15 years. You’re a passionate advocate for the dental profession - and for common sense regulation. I hope the years ahead bring lots of pleasure and new challenges!
To which Stephen Henderson replied: “Thank you Stewart. I have learned so much from you over the years. A small example is “it’s not for the respondent, ourselves or the Case Examiners to have to guess what the allegation means….”
Many in the profession will be in agreement with another of his responses, “I hope this will be a pause rather than a stop.”
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