The relationships with her patients and other health professionals in the area makes working in Moss Vale extra special for Dr Taleitha Atkins who opened Highlands General Practice with her colleagues in November.
How long have you been a GP and how long have you been practising in Moss Vale?
I was awarded Fellowship with the RACGP in 2018 after finishing my GP training. For the past five years I’ve worked in the Southern Highlands at a variety of different practices through my training, but as well as in general practice and the Emergency Department at Bowral Hospital. I teach medical students through Wollongong University as well.
When/why did you decide you wanted to become a GP?
I decided to be a GP during my hospital terms, as an intern, for two reasons. I’m interested in all aspects of medicine and want to continue seeing a broad range of patients and specialties. I also like to be able to see patients long-term. In the hospital you just see patients once or twice, you don’t really know what happens to them, but here you get to follow them through, get to know their journey, what happens with their illness over time and you develop relationships with them.
What do you love most about being a GP/what part of the job gives you the most satisfaction?
What we like to do is to help people but people don’t always accept our help or advice. So, I don’t think we can measure our reward by how much we impact people. It’s about maintaining that attitude of serving and helping regardless of whether people accept your help or not. My favourite things are seeing kids, I look after a lot of pregnant women and do a lot of antenatal shared care, and I really enjoy diagnostic dilemmas and getting to the bottom of a case. It’s really nice to be able to get to know the whole family. We have lots of patients where the whole family comes, grandparents, siblings, and it’s quite fun because they start dobbing each other in – like grandpa is drinking too much alcohol. You have to be quite sly in the way you bring it up like no one told you. It’s quite special really.
What is the most important thing you/your practice contributes to this community?
We’ve recently relocated so we are under new management here and what’s really touching is so many of our patients have come across. We weren’t able to tell people where we were going but they figured out where we were and we are very busy seeing them all. We’re touched by the loyalty of the people who want to stick with us. It just goes to show how small and well connected this community is. We see our patients chatting together in the waiting room, everyone knows each other. It’s really nice to be part of this community and to help people, and knowing that people rely on us.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
Just keeping active and being outside, particularly on lovely days.
Tell me about your ideal day…
My ideal work day is when the IT works … but seriously, with the transition from our other clinic I’ve been struck by how lucky I am to work with good colleagues. The other three doctors here are outstanding clinicians and we’ve learnt to work well as a team – joking, debriefing, they are really supportive and I’m lucky to work with such a close-knit group. The other thing is teaching, having medical students around. I really appreciate that. Their quest for learning and the awe that they have when they learn something new inspires me to keep going and reminds me why I became a doctor in the first place. It’s really good to remember that part of medicine as well.
What do you love most about Moss Vale?
So many things. It’s such a beautiful place. Great, cutesy and unique shops, lots of good cafes but for me I moved back from Queensland because my friends and family are here in the area. That’s what really makes it for me. I’m also lucky to be working in this area. We have a sort of country practice here in Moss Vale where it’s even more of a small town than say Mittagong or Bowral. We also have great relationships with other health professionals. We found that with our change the support and collegiality that we’ve had from pharmacists, allied health and other GPs has been remarkable. They’ve worked with us and helped our patients to make sure they were safe during our transition time. We’re really thankful for having those relationships and the support there. It’s nice to know who’s on the other end of a referral.
What advice do you give your patients about maintaining good health?
I try to help my patients be preventative with their health – that’s why we’re GPs – and develop good health habits. I don’t think health is an outcome, I think it is a way of life. We are really trying to teach our patients it’s about the little gains and about doing that consistently. It’s all about balance. A lot of people were waiting for 2020 to be over so they could get back to normal but I don’t think putting things off because of external circumstances is ever good. We’ve got to learn how to be healthy and have good habits in whatever circumstances we’re in. And that’s holistic health.