FOR the past 40 years, visiting medical officer Robert Smee has risen at 4am every Wednesday to be doing the rounds at Tamworth hospital by 9am.

But the 75-year-old is not retiring anytime soon.

"I'm thinking about it, but that's as far as it gets," Professor Smee told the Leader.

Earlier this month and in recognition of his duty, staff on the oncology ward threw a surprise morning tea for Professor Smee.

"I was touched by the gesture," Professor Smee said in between seeing his patients.

"Nurses here at Tamworth are friendly and good at what they do."

Professor Smee inherited the Tamworth round when he took over the practice of a Sydney colleague in 1985.

Having graduated from medicine at the University of NSW in 1975, the young doctor travelled to New Zealand, where he embarked on

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