Much respected GP set to retire

Much respected GP set to retire

16 March 2022

AFTER almost 28 years in practice, Dr Alison Smith is retiring next week as a GP in Dundrum and Clough.

Health Minister Robin Swann paid a tribute to Dr Smith on a visit last week to the busy Clough surgery of the Dundrum and Clough Family Practice.

Mr Swann met Dr Smith and her colleagues, who serve more than 10,000 patients in the South Down area.

Dr Smith, who lives with her husband Tim in Newcastle, has specialist interests in women’s health, diabetes, learning disability and care for the elderly.

Mr Swann said: “Dr Smith and her colleagues have been at the forefront of innovations, in particular the implementation of the Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) model in the Down Federation.  

“The recent extension to the premises here at Clough has been part of the roll-out of that initiative. The practice has recognised both the need for change, and the opportunity that new ways of working provides to improve the quality of care which it can offer to its patients. 

“She is an outstanding example of the dedication and professionalism of our GP services.”

The minister also thanked all of the practice staff or their “tireless and ongoing treatment, care and support that they provide to patients, particularly over the past two years”.

He added: “I know it has not been easy. This has been an incredibly stressful and anxious time for so many of our population and no less so for our GP workforce and their teams who have been in the vanguard of our response to Covid.”

South Down UUP councillors Jill Macauley and Alan Lewis also paid tribute to Dr Smith.

“Alison has served the community of Clough and Dundrum with such attention and dedication over the years, and we have no doubt that her presence will be missed in the local surgeries,” their statement said.

“We thank our party colleague and Health Minister Robin Swann MLA for taking the time to call with Alison and all the staff at Clough Health Centre to acknowledge her retirement, as well as seeing around their impressive state of the art facilities.”

Dr Smith and her husband moved to the Newcastle area in 1988 when he got a job at the YMCA.

Originally from Edinburgh and having qualified at Edinburgh University, Dr Smith spent a short time working on the surgical ward of Downe Hospital with Mr Crawford Bell, consultant surgeon.

She then worked part-time with Dr Edith Cunningham in Killyleagh and Dr John Kyle in Newcastle before joining the Dundrum and Clough Family Practice as a partner with Dr Kieran Walshe and Dr Alex Greer in 1994. She replaced Dr Ronald Hamilton.

Dr Smith said that while she is looking forward to having some time to spend with her family and to travel, she will greatly miss her patients and all the practice staff.

“It’s been a very exciting, go-ahead practice to be part of and our list has more than doubled since I joined,” she said.

“It’s a lovely team to work with and I will miss all my colleagues and staff terribly after I go, particularly after Covid when our life was so restricted at home.

“The last two years have been quite bizarre in many ways the team has really come together. This is history that we have actually been living and working through which has been good to have been part of that. But I definitely feel ready to move on and it’s time for new doctors to be in the practice.”

She said it was the speed of change that the practice had to contend with at the beginning of the lockdown that proved challenging.

“There is always change in general practice and some of it is not easy but having to work safely through the pandemic while providing a service to our patients was challenging but I think we managed to do that.

Dr Smith, who has three adult children — Alistair, Sandy and Corinne — added that it has been quite emotional for her saying goodbye to her patients over the last few weeks.

“They are like old friends and it was good to be part of their lives. It’s a privilege to be helping people at some of their worst times of their lives.”

She and her husband are looking forward in several weeks time to welcoming Corinne home from the US for the first since the pandemic.

Dr Smith intends to continue to remain on the board of two local charities, MyMy in Newcastle and RIOT in Dundrum.