Retiring GP Ninian will be missed terribly by all

GP Ninian Hewitt will retire from the Longhouse Practice in Trinity this week after 35 years.

Dr Hewitt, 62, will step down from the practice, in East Trinity Road, on Thursday, after spending his entire general practice career there.

Dr Hewitt was born in Hawick and lived in Melrose until he was 10, then moved with his family to Edinburgh, where he was educated at George Watson's College.

He then studied medicine at Aberdeen University for six years, where he met his future wife Christine. By the time he had completed his studies in Aberdeen, she was living in London and working for the BBC, so he moved south to be with her and they married in 1972.

The couple returned to Edinburgh when Dr Hewitt was offered a job in psychiatry at the Western General, moving initially to the city centre, and later to Inverleith, where they still live. They have three children, Rachel, 34, Johanna, 32, and Tom, 30.

Dr Hewitt decided in the mid-seventies to move into General Practice and spent a year training at the Longhouse Practice before becoming a partner there.

In 1980 he also began to teach GP postgraduate education at the University of Edinburgh, and continued there for 17 years.

Around 1997 he set up the North East Edinburgh Local Health Cooperative, and remained with it until about two years ago. At that time he was appointed clinical lead for the Lothian Respiratory and Managed Clinical Network, which seeks to coordinate the respiratory treatment offered by GP surgeries, hospitals, and other health carers.

He has also been at the forefront of General Practice assessment, visiting practices to observe their work.

Dr Hewitt said: "The best thing about being a GP is the patients. The patients are lovely people, you get into their lives, which is an enormous privilege. People are incredibly interesting - more so than their diseases!

"It's very hard work shaking hands and having to say goodbye to so many people I've been extremely fond of and known for a long time."

In his free time he is also an enthusiastic member of the Really Terrible Orchestra, made famous by fellow-member, the writer Alexander McCall Smith. Dr Hewitt joked: "I try very hard to play a trumpet very well in the Really Terrible Orchestra".

A retiral party was held for Dr Hewitt on Saturday, where tributes were paid not only by colleagues, but also on behalf of his patients.

Practice manager Yvonne Cunningham said: "We'll miss him terribly.

"I've been here 23 years and over the years I've seen him as a mentor and a great support. Laughter is always the best medicine and I think Ninian has applied that with his patients - there's never a dull moment when he's around. He's a very well thought-of individual."