A WORCESTER GP who helped to redefine the structure of general practice in this country has been honoured at a prestigious ceremony.

Dr Mac Knowles was presented at the London ceremony with a medal for being a founder member of the Royal College of General Practice.

The presentation was made to all surviving founder members of the college, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

Dr Knowles, aged 83, served as a GP for 35 years in Worcester, initially in Foregate Street before moving to the Spring Garden surgery.

He qualified as a doctor in 1943 and served in World War Two as a medical officer with the Third Battalion Grenadier Guards.

After leaving the Army in 1947, he carried out various hospital jobs before moving to Worcester in 1949 to start his career as a GP.

Dr Knowles said the award came as a complete surprise to him. "I didn't know anything about it until I got a nice letter from the college," he said.

"It was a very nice ceremony and I'm very proud to have been given the medal."

The RCGB was set up in response to the launch of the National Health Service in 1948, which left general practice without adequate physical, administrative or financial resources to cover the country's entire population.

A group of doctors met in 1951 to plan a college for general practitioners, to create an academic body to support good standards of practice, education and research.

The RCGB created a strong regional organisation and has supported research in general practice throughout its life.

Its main aim has been to define and maintain good standards of practice.

''It is now considered that the NHS could not survive without the organisation.

"I recognised that it was an important institution, and I was very keen that it should have a big influence on GPs," said Dr Knowles.

"I never played an active part in the college, but I have always supported it."