After 32 years in General Practice in Acocks Green I am retiring at the end of April. It has been a great privilege and pleasure to serve the people of our area and to be welcomed into the homes of our many and various families.

I hope I have managed to achieve a few of my ambitions for developing the surgery and the standards of medicine we practice and I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to be involved in your lives.

I remember the old surgery in Dolphin Lane, the stories of Dr Jakobovitz and Dr Jordan & Dr Blackwell, who told me of the times when a sick patient would be given a white aspirin, unless they were very ill when they would be given a yellow aspirin, or if the illness was life threatening they would get the red aspirin! I hope times have changed.

We moved to Victoria Road in 1992 and had 20 very stable good years with Dr Mary O’Gorman from 1995 then started a further era of change when Dr Wilkinson & Dr Ahmed joined in 2015.

The pandemic has caused difficulties for everyone and restricted what we could do in the past two years but I hope the months ahead will settle to a better future where most patients are seen and not just heard. I will certainly miss the people I have worked for and with, most of you I consider as friends.

I hope the years ahead are kinder and I wish you well. The surgery is in good hands and I don’t think you will find better for many miles. I will continue to live locally so I may see you in the Green or in Solihull. I hope you will stop me and say “hello”, but for the moment, at the end of April, I will give a fond farewell as I put down the medical bag and hang up the stethoscope.

You have my very best wishes,

Iain Cameron