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With 35 years of service under his belt, Dr Vincent Roche has been recognised for his services and contributions to Moss Vale, Bowral and Bundanoon.

Dr Roche, who has worked at the Southern Medical Practice in Moss Vale since 1986, said he was honoured to receive the award.

"I don't do it for the recognition. The recognition really comes from my patients because they are the people that made the 35 years good," he said.

"My family is pretty proud. They sat on the lounge and watched the teleconference and drank champagne.

"I'm really lucky. I enjoy what I do. It's not physically demanding so you can do it as you age, so I've got a few more years left in me yet.

"I've saved one or two lives. I've delivered a couple of children, whose mothers I had also delivered. That's always a highlight of a GPs career."

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While he may have a "few more years" left in him, Dr Roche will be making one change for the future. In January, Dr Roche will be retiring from the hospital.

"For the last 35 years, every weekend doing a ward round, you don't get much downtime," he said.

"It's going to be a shock to the system to have the weekends to myself."

A career in medicine wasn't Dr Roche's first choice, as he first considered engineering or architecture before he chose to study medicine.

"My dad was a doctor, as was his brother and his mother," he said.

"Subconsciously I noticed that my dad enjoyed what he did, he had the respect of the community. He was doing something that was good work.

"He loved what he was doing. They are pretty powerful signals to send to a child or a teenager.

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"I looked very closely at engineering and architecture and my parents got a shock when they saw that I was doing medicine."

Dr Roche said medicine was something he grew into.

"I don't think I've ever regretted it," he said.

He also paid homage to the people that have helped him in his career.

"The 35 years of recognition also belongs to the people who have helped me along the way," he said.

"I've had great colleagues, great nurses, great practice nurses, great midwives and receptionists.

"They are contributing to people's health as much as I am. Whether it's the engineer, the cleaners or the people at pathology at the hospital, they are all an equally important part of rural health.

"If we lose any of them, things won't run smoothly."

Dr Roche was one of six GPs honoured at the 2021 Rural GPs conference.

Each year the Rural Doctors Network recognises rural GPs who have achieved 35 plus years' service to remote, rural and regional communities in NSW.

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