After 33 years' service at Abingdon Surgery Dr David Schofield is retiring at the end of this month.
A well-respected figure, Dr Schofield has mixed feelings about his retirement.
He said: "I'm pleased to be retiring but I am sad at the state of the National Health Service. When I first came to Abingdon I was proud to be involved with the NHS but it's not what it once was and is very poor compared with a lot of other countries now."
Dr Schofield, 60, has lost count of the number of people he has treated at the surgery in Stert Street, Abingdon, since he arrived in 1968.
He said: "I'm going to see if all those hobbies that have fallen by the wayside still hold the same appeal."
He said: "It will be strange, not just for me, but for some of the patients when I don't go into work on October 1. I've become a part of the furniture - if not part of the family."
On September 26 Dr Schofield's patients are invited to the surgery between noon and 2.20pm to say their farewells.
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