OKEHAMPTON Medical Centre was delighted to receive generous donations from the Patient Participation Group and Okehampton United Charity to go towards buying a hyfrecator.

This instrument is a state of the art cautery machine to be used for minor surgical procedures at the medical centre.

Dr Vile said: ‘We are very pleased to welcome Dr Craig Barker to our clinical team. He is a very experienced GP surgeon with particular expertise in dermatological surgery and will enable us to offer an increased range of minor surgical procedures, including removal of some skin lesions for which previously patients have had to travel to Exeter.’

Dr Barker will be doing dedicated minor surgical procedures on a fortnightly basis and the other GPs will be able to refer appropriate lesions directly to him.