MAYOR of Taunton Deane Vivienne Stock-Williams has thanked John Cutting, retiring chairman of Wellington Medical Centre Patient Participation Group, for his out-

standing five years’ service in the role.

She said members of the Archie Project in particular were very grateful to Mr Cutting for supporting their work in increasing dementia awareness in Wellington.

Mr Cutting, who has kept the group up-to-date with matters relating to NHS, stepped down as chairman at the recent annual meeting.

He has participated actively in a number of committees instigated by the NHS and now has an extensive knowledge of the NHS which he is happy to share with others.

He said: “I have witnessed rapid changes affecting the Practice, with the number of GPs/doctors remaining the same but with patient numbers increasing from 12,500 to 15,000, as well as an ever-increasing demand for appointments.”

In his annual report presented at the group’s annual meeting he spoke about his concern over any likely detrimental effect on patients that the proposed closure of the Lister House Practice in Wiveliscombe and its branch surgery at Milverton run as a GP-run Partner Practice in relation to the difficulty in recruiting doctors into partnerships.

The Somerset Partnership Foundation Trust is taking on the running of the surgeries using salaried doctors.

Mr Cutting is concerned small GP practices might be in a similar situation as salaried GPs have fixed contracted hours and GP Partners already work additional hours without pay.