Colleagues gathered to convey their best wishes to Derek Cush, principal analyst, who retired after 33 years with the NHS.

Derek, who worked with information services at Kirklands Headquarters in Bothwell, started his career as a clerical officer at Inverclyde Royal Hospital where he carried out the microfilming of medical records.

During his time at Argyll and Clyde Health Board, Derek also secured the roles of information analyst and statistician before joining NHS Lanarkshire in April 1991 as information services manager at Beckford Street, Hamilton. Derek thereafter became assistant head of information services at Strathclyde Hospital, Motherwell before moving to Kirklands in the role of principal analyst, a post he held until his retirement.

Derek lives in Glasgow with his partner Bryan. In his spare time, Derek enjoys holidays to Gran Canaria, Majorca and Barcelona and is an avid reader of science fiction and political diaries. He is also a novice blogger and Twitter addict.

To mark his retirement, Derek has planned a holiday to Barcelona. His retirement will give Derek time to plan his marriage to Bryan in September 2017.

Stuart Wallace, deputy head of information management, said: “We would like to wish Derek all the very best in his well-earned retirement. He has been a valuable member of the information services team for many years and his knowledge and counsel will be missed.

Derek will forever be remembered for his motto: “Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts”.