Inspiring Tasmanian GP expands female-led clinic

After emigrating from the United Kingdom in 2014, GP Dr Mary Lumsden has made several bold moves in her career – the latest of which has seen her practice expand at a time when many others are closing their doors.
 
Opening her practice in Brighton on the outskirts of Hobart, Dr Lumsden said her main motivator in taking the leap into practice ownership was to create a workplace where she actually wanted to work.
 
‘I wanted to create somewhere which I felt was a better fit for me,’ she told newsGP.
 
And with the need for healthcare in the region so great, her clinic was booked out for two weeks in advance prior to its opening.
 
But it’s not the first time Dr Lumsden has gone against the status quo in providing healthcare in Tasmania.
 
After seeing a patient who had yet to receive contraception after two medical terminations via a phone service, as there was no public provision for pregnancy termination in the state at that time, Dr Lumsden stepped in.
 
‘I basically then set up the first local medical termination service in Tasmania and operated it as a one-stop clinic appointment,’ she said.
 
‘We got their bloods done beforehand, then booked them in for an hour, which started with doing a bedside dating scan, and then went through the counselling and, if appropriate, then prescribed and sorted out contraception for them going forward,’ she said.
 
This focus on women’s health is something she took forward into her own practice, with six of the seven GPs at the Brighton Regional Doctors clinic being female.


Six of seven GPs at the Brighton Regional Doctors clinic are female. (Image: supplied)
 
Dr Lumsden believes this helps share the workload from high-needs patients that female GPs often work with.
 
‘Because we’re in a team that has so many female doctors, it actually reduces our risk of burnout as female doctors, because we spread the load of some of the higher intensity patients,’ she said.
 
‘It doesn’t end up with one or two female GPs with their entire days just full of that, because we all do a bit of it.’
 
At a time where clinic closures are all too common, Dr Lumsden says it’s important to ‘have your eyes open’ when going into business.
 
‘I think you need to be clear in your own mind about why you want to open a practice,’ she said.
 
‘There’s a lot of things to try and keep your head on top of, as well as doing the medicine.’
 
The business will be mixed billing, something Dr Lumsden says is now unavoidable for providing quality care.
 
‘You have to ask, is it going to be good or is it going to be cheap?’ she said.
 
‘It’s about creating a model of care which is satisfying for both the doctor and the patient in terms of outcomes but accepting the fact that, if you’re going to financially make that work, it can’t be bulk billed.’
 
RACGP Rural Chair and Vice President, Associate Professor Michael Clements, was in Tasmania for the opening of the new clinic last Friday and applauds Dr Lumsden’s approach to practice ownership.
 
‘As a GP practice owner myself, I think Mary’s really doing wonderful things here and there’s a future in this kind of practice ownership,’ he told newsGP.
 
‘If it’s just about making money, then there’s other ways of making it that perhaps are easier.
 
‘The thing that speaks to me is that general practice ownership is still a valid and good business choice, but the circumstances have to be correct for that to happen.’
 
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