A BOLTON GP who has cared for generations of Bolton people is retiring early after 25 years in a single-handed practice.

Dr Pramila Jagannath, who was born and brought up in Southern India, came to England in 1965.

She first worked at Guy's Hospital, London, after qualifying from university in Southern India.

After leaving London, Dr Jagannath worked in Wolverhampton, then moved to Bolton after her husband, a civil and structural design engineer, secured work in Manchester.

Her first post was a locum registrar in gynaecology and obstetrics at Bolton General, until she took over the Crescent Road practice in 1971.

"If I had my time over again I wouldn't change the past 25 years I've spent in the practice, but there's no doubt there have been a lot of changes," she said.

"A great deal of this job is about caring. It's about sparing those extra five minutes to chat with people who, at the end of the day are lonely and need looking after," said Dr Jagannath.

.She was a member of the former Bolton Health Authority, the first female member of the Local Medical Committee in Bolton and a past member of the Family Practitioner Committee.

One of her most pressing concerns over the years has been to protect those in greatest need - particularly the elderly . And for many years she took a lead role in the inspection and registration of nursing and retirement homes.

"I am very sad to leave because of ill health," she said. "If I could I would have worked to the very end but this is the way it must be. My patients are almost like an extended family to me and I shall miss everyone tremendously, I hope in some way I've made a small difference. That's all any of us can ask for really."

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