The quiet impact of a lifetime in general practice

For more than three decades, patients arriving at a small Burnside clinic came to expect familiar faces, long-term relationships, and care that extended well beyond a single visit.

When Sharon Ashmore and Peter Sim took over Kendal Medical Centre in 1992, they had around 300 patients. Over 34 years, that number grew to about 3,000, but the structure of the clinic stayed largely the same. A small team, long-serving staff, and a focus on knowing patients remained central to how they worked.

“Kendal Medical Centre has been a good example of how bigger is not always better,” Sharon said, noting that patients always knew who they were dealing with. “If they don’t see Peter, they see me and they are always greeted by the same familiar face at reception”

Their work reflects a model of general practice built on continuity. Over time, Sharon and Peter cared for whole families across generations. They delivered babies, then treated those children as adults, and later saw their children in turn. The relationships built over decades shaped not only clinical care, but also other decisions patients made in their lives.

“Patients tell you things they wouldn’t tell anyone else,” Sharon said. “It’s quite an honour and a privilege to be involved in their lives in that way.”

For Peter, the complexity of general practice is often underestimated.

“Hospital doctors sometimes think general practice is boring,” he said. “But all the interesting things they see, we often see first.”

The work demands breadth, but also persistence. Responsibility does not end when a patient leaves the room.

“We are the best advocates for our patients” Sharon said, “Good patient care relies on continuity, when you start something, it’s important to either follow it through or make sure it’s safely handed over.

In practice, that responsibility extends well beyond scheduled consultations. Test results must be reviewed, referrals followed up on, care plans carried through and everything communicated to patients, often in hours not formally accounted for.

“You don’t need to know everything about everything,” Peter said. “But you do need to know how to find answers, to be a problem solver and make the system work for your patients.”

For both doctors, owning their practice was central to making that workload sustainable. It allowed them to decide how care was delivered, what services to offer and where to invest their time.

“When you’re working in your own practice, you can make decisions about what’s actually going to improve patient care,” Sharon said.

In a health system increasingly shaped by corporate ownership, that autonomy is becoming less common. For Sharon and Peter, it was key to maintaining the kind of continuity they valued.

Ownership also changed how the work felt. The long days and extra effort were not just obligations, but part of building something they believed in, for a community they knew so well.

As Peter put it, “We had the best job in the world.”