TY - JOUR T1 - Before I go ... JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 176 LP - 176 DO - 10.3399/bjgp21X715505 VL - 71 IS - 705 AU - Ashley Liston Y1 - 2021/04/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/71/705/176.abstract N2 - In March 2020 I was looking forward to my retirement, but it soon became clear that this should be postponed as wave one of the pandemic took hold. My offer of help was accepted by a primary care network (PCN) in West Cumbria where I was asked if I would work at their Red Centre. The team were outstanding. It had a wide skill mix, drawn from a combination of their Same Day Service, sessional GPs, nursing staff, and healthcare assistants seconded from local practices, all working from a surgery that had been requisitioned to set up this new service. The co-op spirit that was so evident in the team had played a key part in the development of the ‘not for profit’ enterprise that runs most of the surgeries in the area. GPs who for many years had run their own small businesses were now salaried employees, still leading their practice teams, but now part of a larger healthcare organisation seeking to improve the health and wellbeing of this significantly deprived part of Cumbria.Retirement finally came in July 2020 but then wave two of the pandemic … ER -