GP partner at Wansford and King’s Cliffe Practice retires after 30 years

A doctor who has dedicated 30 years to making a GP surgery grow and flourish is retiring.

Dr Rhiannon Nally will be bidding goodbye to colleagues and patients at Wansford and King’s Cliffe Practice today (Tuesday, September 3) - exactly 30 years since starting as a GP there.

She said: “It has been a privilege to be a GP in this area and to have so many people share their lives with me.”

Since her teenage years, Dr Nally always had an ambition to be a doctor and attended medical school in Cardiff before securing her first job in South Wales.

After moving to the area in the 1990s, she was offered a job at the Wansford and King’s Cliffe Practice where she has remained since.

“I loved that it was a rural practice - it wasn't too big,” she said.

“I could see it was full of hardworking, good doctors with a real ethos about localism and knowing your patients.

“I knew there were really excellent standards of care which made me realise I would like to work at this practice.”

Over the past three decades Dr Nally has seen the practice double in size to now 10,500 patients.

Recently new patients stopped being accepted after an influx of people living in Stamford, Oundle and the surrounding areas switched to the surgery.

Keeping the surgery small and patient-orientated is what Dr Nally believes has allowed them to buck the trend of ‘anonymous tick box medicine’.

But it hasn’t been without challenges.

She said: “Successive governments have poured money into being able to see a doctor at 8pm or on a Saturday.

“I feel what patients want and need is to see a doctor they know because you build a relationship of trust.”

Dr Nally added: “I love family medicine because you are able to look after people throughout their life, from cradle to grave.

“It has continuity because you are able to look after whole families.”

Similar to colleagues across the NHS, cuts to funding and financial pressures have been another trial the surgery has had to navigate through.

In 2021 partners at the practice put forward the idea to centralise healthcare into one location by closing the branch surgery in King’s Cliffe, which at the time hadn’t been used for face-to-face appointments in a year because of the covid pandemic.

Despite the financial implications, it was decided the West Street practice would stay open due to an ‘ever-increasing’ list of patients.

Not only did Dr Nally lead her team through unprecedented times during the pandemic, but she also oversaw covid vaccine trials and subsequently two further booster studies.

The health campus also now incorporates a pharmacy - home to the research unit - and a dental surgery, and over the years the team has diversified to include paramedics, advanced nurse practitioners and specialist diabetes and cardiology nurses.

“The highlight of my time has been seeing the practice grow and flourish, and knowing we provide a really high standard of care,” said Dr Nally.

Even though she will soon be writing her last prescription, it won’t be the end of Dr Nally’s career in healthcare as she plans to continue to be involved in research.

Partners Dr Helen Eastwood and newly appointed James de Souza will lead the practice.