When Dr Hilary McDermott first arrived at Penn Surgery nearly 30 years ago she was the first female GP in the practice.

For some patients that was a step too far. Before she arrived a handful wrote in the nicest possible way saying that a lady doctor was not for them and could they transfer to a man.  To which the surgery replied, also in the nicest possible way, that the choice was, of course, up to them but could they "respectfully request that you meet her before making that decision."

It was a credit to the good doctor - as well as the handful of reluctant patients - that those who agreed to the request didn't go on to transfer their allegiance.  In fact, it's a fair bet they will be among the many hundreds who will sorely miss her passion, her care and her understanding when she retires next year.

Helping people is what makes Hilary tick.  Sitting in her roomy office in the swish Penn Surgery, built on the site of the Horse and Groom pub in Elm Road, she doesn't regret her career choice one bit.  "I never know how is going to walk through that door or what they are coming for,"  she says.  "Being a GP is exciting; you are on the medical front line."

She was born in Galloway in rural south west Scotland in the early 1950s where her mother was a district nurse and midwife.  Her father - "a splendid man who was born in the slums of Liverpool and pulled himself up by his own bootstraps" - did various jobs, and by the time Hilary was 12 he had qualified as a psychiatric nurse.  The family then moved to Llandrindod Wells in mid-Wales where he went on to become a psychiatric social worker.

For Hilary, life was soon to take a dramatic turn of its own.  At the age of 16 she won a scholarship to attend Atlantic College in Glamorganshire - an international school with pupils from 35 different countries that had launched a few years earlier with the aim of promoting peace and international understanding.

It was a school with plenty of physical activity - which suited her sporting temperament well - but it also helped her confirm her medical ambitions.  By the time she left she was leader of the school's first aid section!  It was also where she was to meet David, the man she was eventually to marry nearly 10 years later.

She was accepted as a medical student at London's Royal Free Hospital on her second attempt and began five years hard training.  It was the height of the IRA bombing campaign and like many at the time she avoided using the rush hour tube to her digs. Instead she stayed late and crammed in extra study…a tactic that paid off and resulted in her winning the anatomy prize in her year.

But it wasn't all work.  She found time for a number of boyfriends, most of whom, by coincidence, were called Geoffrey.  "It was at a party just before I qualified that I announced I was getting married," she recalls.  "The girls said great, which Geoffrey is it?  They were staggered when I said it's David actually."

She was also keeping a proud eye on the success of her youngest sister Kirsty, who was one of Britain's top athletes, winning the 800 metres Commonwealth Games gold medal in 1982 and the gold in the 800 and 1500 metre races in 1986.  "That first gold medal in Australia was so unexpected," remembers Hilary.  "I was watching on TV in bed and pulling the blanket up over my face because the excitement was almost unbearable.  I was so pleased for her."

Meanwhile, the new Dr McDermott was assigned to a practice in Southend for her period as a trainee GP, and for one extraordinary night was made an 'honorary man'.  She said: "The GP was the son of a rabbi and because I was a doctor I was allowed to witness a formal Jewish circumcision ceremony,  However, women are not allowed as such ceremonies, so they had to go through a special procedure which made me an honorary man!  It was all very interesting."

In 1983 Hilary joined the Simpson Centre in Beaconsfield, which includes Penn Surgery, as the practice's first woman doctor in a team of six.  Then, the doctors spent half their time in Penn and half in Beaconsfield, but that presented logistical problems.  So eventually Hilary joined Dr Gau permanently based in Penn.

Even then the practice was at the cutting edge of changing medical practices, recognising that budgets are not limitless.  They enthusiastically participated in the first attempts to introduce GP fundholding, and undertook the training of new GPs.

Hilary became an accredited GP trainer and, as new proposed NHS reforms were outlined in recent years, took on responsibility for examining how the practice could commission health services.  She was closely involved in the Bucks Primary Care Collaborative, an association of 33 GP practices in South Bucks working together to try and ensure the new healthcare changes work for their patients. However, now she is working 'half-time' in preparation for next year's full time retirement, these are roles she is handing over.

That retirement will involve spending more time with David, a retired helicopter pilot, and their two dogs at their other home on the Pembrokeshire coast enjoying gardening, sailing and riding their gyrocopter.

But for now, Hilary remains a village doctor in every sense of the word.

She says: "It is very rewarding to look after families where you have seen people grow up; where you know so many people and know their medical history.  That's as beneficial to them as it is to their doctor.  I remember when Dr Horn retired, five generations from the same family came to say goodbye.  It was very touching."

Next autumn, after a lifetime of caring for others, Hilary can take a break and care for herself.  Everyone will wish her well.