Our much-loved and devoted colleague, Annie Souter, who has died of cancer aged 61, was a pioneering social worker in child health. She brought hospital social work right into the heart of the paediatric team at the Whittington hospital, London, working closely with us in child protection and adolescent self-harm cases.
An unsentimental champion of children in need, she stood up to jobsworths whenever they obstructed the primary goal. Annie's work was recognised nationally by the Department of Health, which identified her liaison with paediatrics and mental health teams as a model of good practice. Generations of social workers have learned from her how to assess children and families at risk and how to engage other agencies effectively in the task.
Annie was born and brought up in Scotland. After a brief spell in London in the 1960s, she returned home to bring up her children on a remote farm, then trained in social work in Dundee. In 1987 she joined the Whittington hospital, becoming children and families social work team manager in 1995. Her independent leadership and fearlessness in the face of obstacles led to the decision that her post was no longer necessary, so she retired in 2011.
With her brightly hennaed hair, clothes mostly of varying shades of pink, tinkling bracelets and bangles on wrists, and digital wizardry of some sort in hand, Annie could be recognised from afar. She enriched our professional days with both a disciplined seriousness of purpose and a deliciously irreverent sense of humour.
She is survived by her husband, David, daughter, Victoria (also a social worker), son, James, and two grandchildren.