Brother-sister GP duo going into business

Growing up, siblings Jay and Emma Shoemaker always joked about running a general practice clinic together, and now they have turned that goal into a reality.
 
In August, the brother-sister GP duo teamed up to open Australian Family Medical in Hobart, and one month in, it has proven a hit with doctors and patients alike.
 
‘It was always a long-term goal, and we’d always talked about, “oh, we’ll do a clinic at some point”,’ Jay told newsGP.
 
‘It’s going really well, the patient bookings are picking up, we’ve added our first new doctor in the last month, and we’ve got a couple more locked in for the next few weeks, which is really exciting.
 
‘The reception has been really great from the community, and I think everyone likes the story of the brother and sister GP.’
 
But business is nothing new to the Shoemaker family.
 
Jay and Emma’s father, Fritz, is a business improvement consultant and university lecturer, and so owning a practice seemed like a logical next step for the siblings.
 
‘Our dad is a businessman, and he does a lot of business consulting, so a lot of our dinner table conversations growing up were about that,’ Emma said.
 
‘But we both ended up going into medicine, so it was a natural progression of blending those two interests and combining both business and medicine.’

The family gutted the Hobart premises to ensure they created a supported environment for GPs and their patients. (Image: supplied)
 
The new clinic is bucking an alarming trend across Australia, with dozens of general practices being forced to shut up shop this year alone.
 
Owners have cited rising costs and a lack of GPs as the key reasons for closing their doors.
 
These are challenges Jay and Emma know all too well, and they remain very aware of the trouble plaguing other practices.
 
‘In Tassie at the moment it’s so hard to find a GP, so with setting up a new clinic people are really keen to have the chance to get on the books and come in and meet us,’ Jay said.
 
‘Some of the clinics I’ve worked at in the past have shut down and there’s been lots of clinics shutting down recently, so it’s nice to be the exception to that.’
 
The Shoemakers spent months renovating their practice – they ripped up floors, painted walls, designed consultations rooms, and handpicked practice software.
 
Throughout this entire process, Jay says it was the happiness and comfort of GPs and their patients that was front of mind.
 
‘We’re both really passionate about general practice and we both love working as GPs and getting to know our patients, and now we’re able to set up our own way of doing things and provide really excellent care,’ he said.
 
‘The big goal of the clinic was to have one where the GPs are happy to work, and feel supported, and have nice facilities to relax in, and just trying to look after our GPs so that people have fun working here.’
 
And luckily, there is no sibling rivalry between the pair.
 
‘It’s good to have someone you trust and that you can bounce ideas off of, and from that perspective it makes it a unique business partnership,’ Jay said.
 
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