Friday 14th March was my last day working as a GP at the Wylcwm Street Surgery in Knighton.

I persuaded my family to move to Knighton when I qualified as a GP in August 2019 having trained here under Dr Kiff in 2013. Knighton had left a big impression on me and I was keen to return to this great town. I would like to put on record how kind and welcoming local people have always been to my family and I since we moved. I would also like to make clear that we couldn't be happier living here and feel blessed to be part of such a special community.

I could not have foreseen the Covid-19 pandemic arriving just six months after I start here. I'm sure you'll agree that it was very hard time for all of us in so many ways. There were times when it was very hard going in Wylcwm Street but I do this job because I love it and because I care. I would like to praise the surgery staff who all had to go over and beyond what could reasonably be expected of them and I'm relieved that the worst of the pandemic is now behind us.

But it is important that I make clear the reasons for me leaving; not that I have to, but because I feel it is very important that local people know as this affects anyone living in East Radnorshire.

When the Covid-19 pandemic began in February 2020, the Powys Teaching Health Board took the decision to temporarily close the nursing beds at Knighton Hospital assuring us that they would be reopened in due course. It soon became clear that an air of permanence hung over this and despite repeated attempts to engage with PTHB over this, the nursing beds were never reopened. This has meant that patients being discharged from Hereford or Shrewsbury are now routinely sent to community hospitals in places as far afield as Ystradgynlais, Ross-On-Wye, Machynlleth and Welshpool to name but a few. I have always seen this as being unnecessarily cruel with many patients having to rely on a threadbare public transport provision to visit their loved ones in their hour of need. Aside from the obvious impact of this on needless carbon emissions, it is the human side which has upset me. We have a perfectly good community hospital here in Knighton whose nursing beds have been closed in a manner lacking in transparency and engagement with local residents. When the nursing beds were closed, the specially designed palliative care bed in Knighton Hospital was also closed, again with no discussion or dialogue. Clearly, this has removed a vital facility for those nearing the last days of life such that family members could visit them at any time while they were receiving excellent care where they live. PTHB assured us that they had tried but failed to recruit enough nurses to be able to reopen Knighton's beds. I will refrain from commenting on that, but I note that Bishop's Castle were in the same position and successfully recruited enough nurses to reopen their community hospital. Make of that what you will.

I am very sorry to be leaving but feel I have no choice. Some of you will know I am going to see out the end of my clinical career in Clun. This is not what I planned when I moved here with my family in 2019 but for the reasons I have outlined, I now have no choice as the status quo for me is untenable in Knighton.

I will particularly miss my work colleagues many of whom worked through the Covid-19 pandemic in particularly trying circumstances. But the only constant is change and I move with a clear conscience and very happy memories of my time as your GP in Knighton.