A message from Dr Karen Jones who is retiring in October

"After over 25 years of involvement with Binscombe Medical Centre, I have decided it is time to retire. It saddens me to leave the patients I have cared for over the years, many of whom I feel I know so well now. We have been through a lot together and I have learnt such a lot from you all. I have been honoured to work with you and also with such a fantastic team at Binscombe, who still hold the core values of General Practice at heart. The stability and low turnover of staff is a testament to its nurturing and supportive ethos, not only for each other but also for its patients.

The past 18 months has been difficult for us all and I am so proud of the way Binscombe came through with an open-door policy throughout. I know this has been appreciated by you all.

And the future? A lot of you are aware that we set up a Walking for Health group a few years ago which meets on a Tuesday morning. I will continue to support this and remain involved in developing a community garden for our patients and the local population - a very exciting project which will keep me in touch with the practice and some of you.

I will continue to think of you all, most of us carry you in our thoughts well beyond the 10-15 minutes we have with you, I don’t believe that is going to change!"

As a practice, we will greatly miss Karen and all she brings to us when she leaves at the end of September, but we know that her positive influence will remain with the Binscombe team for many years to come and are delighted that she will remain connected with us through Walking for Health and the Community Garden project. We want to wish her all the very best and for exciting times to come in her retirement. We know for certain that she won't be idle!

If you would like to send Karen a message as she retires then you can do so here.

On a practical level, Karen will be leaving at the end of September and we will be contacting all her patients by either text or letter at that time to let them know who their new usual doctor will be after that date. There is some flexibility here so if you are allocated to a particular doctor but feel that you are better known by one of the other doctors in the practice then please let us know.