Practice manager profile – Sarah Pryor

Highlands General Practice manager Sarah Pryor loves working with a dedicated team of health professionals and supporting her local community. Based in Bowral, she believes a focus on innovation and development is vital for the benefit of staff and patients alike.

How long have you been a practice manager?

A combined total of more than 20 years.

How long have you been working in the Bowral region?

I moved to the Southern Highlands in 2008. I worked part-time after maternity leave and started work as the practice manager at Bowral Street Medical Practice, now Highlands General Practice, in December 2013.

What was the career path which led you here?

I started working as receptionist in a large general practice in Canberra a couple of years after leaving school and ended up managing the practice.

I was also studying business management, and it provided a great framework to understand how general practice works: from clinical to business, customer service, HR, systems and so on. I was young and made a lot of mistakes, but I was lucky to have a couple of great mentors, and being (embarrassingly) keen helped.

This experience and study piqued my interest in human resources, and I moved to Sydney to further that career before coming, full circle, back to general practice.

Why did you decide to work in primary care?

Having had a range of experiences in private industry, state and local government, I found the roles I enjoyed the most were those aligned with my personal values. I also love working as part of a team where people gain genuine satisfaction from contributing and collaborating on work to support local communities.

Tell us about the role of practice managers in primary care? For example, what are your day-to-day responsibilities?

Practice management roles vary depending on size and services provided by the practice.

On an operational level, practice management involves an enormous amount of planning and organising to support patients, doctors and staff and make it all look seamless.

Day to day this involves managing the appointment book, providing staff training, liaising with doctors, staff, patients, external stakeholders, rostering, building maintenance and repairs and so on. It is certainly a mixed bag and never a dull day.

My current role as general manager is to provide strategic direction and support to the practice management team to operationalise strategic goals in a way which is consistent with our values and vision.

How does your role complement the role of the other health professionals in your practice?

It is always about the teamwork. The general manager role complements the role of other health professionals by working, as part of a team, to build a solid framework of systems and processes so doctors and nurses can focus on providing quality clinical care.

What do you find the most fulfilling about your role?

I love working with such a great bunch of talented, dedicated and supportive people who don’t take themselves too seriously.

Having a focus on innovation and development is a lot of fun and being a teaching practice is super special as everyone’s journey is different. Students and registrars make valuable contributions to the strong learning and development culture.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Running, family uber driver, reading, gardening, hanging out with friends, family and our dog. Also watching way too many sausage dog reels on insta….

What do you like most about the region in which you work and live?

The Southern Highlands is an amazing place to live and work. We are lucky to still have a lovely country feel but be so well serviced with schools, medical services, cultural activities and wonderful bushland to explore on our doorstep. The commute is tough, seven minutes on a bad day.

Do you have any role models and why?

I have been very privileged to work with so many incredible people who I have looked up to and found inspiring.

When I was younger a few people really stood out because they were generous with their time and patience. As my career has matured, I have been lucky enough to work with people who still inspire me to take on new challenges, outside my comfort zone – it turns out old dogs can still learn a new trick or two!

How does your practice – and the people within it – help to educate the community about maintaining good health?

Highlands General Practice helps educate the community about maintaining good health by promoting and providing a range of preventative, screening and chronic care services. We have access to so many great education resources and patient engagement tools these days which support in-practice education.

Chronic care is a valuable opportunity to focus on education in areas such as diet, exercise, mental health, living with chronic disease, social and community engagement. We are lucky to have an expert team of nurses who drive our chronic care program, and they really help motivate patients to maintain the best health they can.

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