A NEW partnership to lead a Conwy Valley GP practice has been appointed. 

Dr Raj Britto, Dr Owen Pooley and Mena Thamburatnam (non-clinical partner) will take over the practice in Betws y Coed from May 1.

A spokesperson from Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) said: "The new partners impressed the panel with their plans for the practice and were able to show they had a robust staffing model and plans to meet the needs of the patients.

"The partnership already runs a practice in Gwynedd and has previous experience of managing new practice contracts with dispensing services.

"The partners are joined by Dr Anne Hoffman, who is an experienced GP and having trained in North Wales has been working in the area both as a partner and locum since 2017.

"Some Betws y Coed patients may remember Dr Pooley who has previously worked at Betws y Coed Practice whilst Dr Sion was on maternity leave in 2020. Dr Lauren Beadle and the other members of the existing team, clinical and non-clinical, will remain at the practice.

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"The health board, the current partners; Dr Keep and Dr Sion, and the practice team will work together with the new partners to ensure a smooth transition and hand over."

The new partnership comes after the partners of Meddygfa Betws-y-Coed Surgery, based at Pentre Du, gave notice that they would be ending their contract with BCUHB from April 30.   

The health board went out to tender to secure a new partnership to run the practice. Fortunately, the process was successful.

Patients would have faced a potential 36-mile round trip to visit the GP if the practice had shut its doors; existing patients would have to travel to Cerrigydrudion or Llanrwst.