What does a typical day as a GP at HCA look like?

I get plenty of variety. I get time to perform my traditional GP role, but I also do health screenings and occupational health. As a GP here, appointments are 15 minutes each, which gives me more time to get to know each patient and work out the best treatment plan for them. Health screenings tend to be half an hour or longer. There’s good continuity of care at HCA and I really enjoy the emphasis on holistic care, helping people feel better even when they’re not clinically ill. In some cases this can be truly lifesaving – I recently detected prostate cancer during a patient’s routine health screening appointment, and we were able to advise quickly on this. Referrals are a lot quicker and easier too, and that really helps patients move along their healthcare pathway more efficiently.

There’s a genuine sense here that HCA really strives to develop their GP’s careers, and proactively offer you opportunities. For instance, I’ve recently taken HCA up on the option they gave me to complete a fully-funded diploma in Occupational Health – not something I thought of doing before. But when it was offered, I jumped at the chance to branch out.

What is it about working at HCA that you’d recommend to others?

The teamwork here is amazing. So is the time you get to be thorough in what you do, ensuring you cover everything you need to. It really makes a difference and it’s great to be able to see the confidence patients have in you when they know they’re getting the best care.

But perhaps best of all is the work/life balance. I can’t tell you how much it means to me to be home in time to see my kids. I’d go as far to say it’s the best job I’ve had as a doctor in that respect. And it really makes a difference being managed by other doctors who understand the pressures of being a GP as well as a parent. Also, the respect you get from line managers and the support you get from admin staff really stands out.

What’s most challenging about your role?

I’ve had to get used to new systems and change the way I practise medicine to a certain extent, but that’s to be expected. The role still has its stresses, of course, what with the quality of care needing to be so high. So there’s plenty of hard and thorough work involved. But my workload feels much more manageable.

What’s the best thing about working at HCA?

I feel like I’m genuinely improving the lives of my patients. Recently, I’ve been able to identify life-threatening conditions at an early stage, which feels very rewarding and obviously makes a big difference to those patients’ futures. I’m excited about my future too. I know I can do more preventative medicine, and the potential to get training so I can branch out into new areas of medicine – like I already have with my occupational health training – really gets me looking forward to what’s next for me at HCA.