George Annan was a consultant physician in geriatric medicine at Blackpool. He was born in Kumasi, Ghana, and went to medical school at Ibadan, helped and funded by his brother Charles. George then went to Britain to complete his clinical training at Guy's.
After graduating, he moved to the north in 1962 to gain experience in the various disciplines of medicine. He then joined the specialist training scheme in geriatric medicine in the north west. He was appointed to the post of consultant in 1974 and remained there until he retired.
At Blackpool he helped put elderly care on the main agenda. He managed to bring about a wide variety of changes in acute care for older people. He also made a considerable impact in improving facilities for rehabilitation at various small hospitals in the area. He was aware of plans to build new units to provide modern facilities at various sites, but sadly he could not see them, as they opened shortly after his death.
It would be fair to say that he was not familiar with the word 'management' and certainly not 'financial management'. His main asset was perseverance, he would never give up on his principles and managed to achieve them by persuasion, hard work and sheer stubbornness.
Outside of medicine, his love and joy was his 'girls', his three daughters Francesca, Rebecca and Georgina. He encouraged them in sporting activities, although none of them pursued his sporting interests - cricket and football. He always wished that his daughters would become doctors but two of them took a different direction and the eldest decided to help the health service by becoming a dietician.
Sadly two weeks before his retirement he had a stroke from which he gradually made a good recovery. He also decided to plunge for another woman in his life, his first marriage to Patricia Capenhurst having ended in 1991. He was very happy in his second marriage, to Anna. They spent the winter in Ghana and the summer in England. When George was in England he was happy to get together with old friends and catch up on events.
R S Gulati