How this practice is making a difference for Bathurst amid 'very little choice'

Now, just six months on from opening its doors, Gilmour Street Specialists is already doing its bit to fill crucial gaps in the city's health services.

Dr Elbourne is the city's sole respiratory specialist, and in March she welcomed Dr Tegan van Gemert, an endocrinologist, to the practice.

While the Bathurst public hospital has an endocrinology clinic, there is a long wait list, resulting in many people having to go elsewhere for treatment.

The arrival of Dr van Gemert will help put an end to that.

Dr Elbourne said she was "absolutely delighted" when Dr van Gemert reached out to her in 2023 looking for an opportunity to move to Bathurst.

"I named the place 'Gilmour Street Specialists' in the hope that it would become more than one [specialist], and for Tegan to arrive and just be such a great fit, and a specialty that we just need so very much, it's lovely," she said.

"I couldn't be happier."

Dr Elbourne herself has been working in Bathurst since 2019, but has never had a space that was truly hers.

She worked in three different locations prior to opening Gilmour Street Specialists and her patients have followed her to each one.

The building that her new practice occupies has undergone a lot of work to transform it from a house to a commercial premises, and the patients certainly appreciate it.

"We've had a really positive response from patients. They like the space. I'm very, very happy to have a home base," Dr Elbourne said.

The practice has also employed several administration staff and a technician to support Dr Elbourne's work.

That, combined with the response from patients, has been "delightful".

"I'm excited at the thought of working here for the next 30 years," Dr Elbourne said.

Speaking to her speciality, Dr Elbourne said there is a lack of respiratory doctors across not only Bathurst, but regional areas in general.

"There's very little choice," she said.

"I am the best respiratory doctor in Bathurst by virtue of being the only one.

"There's a 12 month waiting list at the Orange public clinic, similar waiting time at Dubbo, so we're continually getting referrals from Forbes, Parkes, Cowra, Canowindra, Mudgee, Kandos, Gulgong, and it's simply an ongoing lack of access in regional areas."

She wants to see more specialists working in regional areas to meet the obvious need.

"It's incredibly rewarding. Anyone who's thinking about doing it should just do it," she said.

"The patients are lovely and you become part of the community really quickly."

Dr Elbourne is still finding her feet running her own practice, but is open to welcoming a third specialist in the future.

"If someone else was keen, we could give them space - we've got another available office - but I haven't really gone down the path of trying to recruit anyone to that just yet," she said.

"A place this size we could certainly have that, it's just attracting people west of the sandstone curtain is really challenging."