Hi, I’m Al Thompson director here at Wigan Borough Healthcare. I have recently retired after 50 years in GP in Wigan.
In my retirement I have taken on volunteer work with a well-being focus to put back into Wigan just a little of the life I enjoyed as a Wigan GP.
Through the 50 years I have realised more and more that healthcare and social care are so closely interconnected. The Wigan community would be so different without support in healthcare support in social care and support in public health. Encouraging and motivating this belief across public services, community activity and personal development makes Wigan such a special place to belong.
This Federation is growing into the centre of how people can best enjoy good health. My involvement across the Federation, the Pelican Centre and Rotary gives me the chance to repay some of the joy I have found here in Wigan.
My personal life has given me a taste of how rewarding and yet challenging life can be. I have 5 ‘children’ all with lovely families. I had 30 years of marriage that gave me so much but ended in Lynne’s death from cancer. I have had cancer and some heart problems along with many times of depression. All of this leading to where I am. A recent book I read is ‘the body keeps the score’; How true.
But then the reward of working in Wigan with Wigan Borough Healthcare, our Federation, gives meaning, and joy, to my life.
Regards Al