A practice is more than a building. Associate Professor Vinay S. Rane shares what he has learned about creating rooms that work for patients, staff and the doctor behind the business.

By Associate Professor Vinay S. Rane, Obstetrician, Gynaecologist, Fertility Specialist and Lawyer

There is a moment in the life of almost every doctor when the borrowed consulting room begins to feel a little too borrowed.

For us, it arrived during the pandemic. Partners and family members were often excluded from appointments and scans, and women were entering hospital environments without the person they most wanted beside them.

“Pregnancy is not a disease to be managed.”

We wanted rooms that reflected the people we cared for: an environment that welcomed partners, respected patients’ time, offered privacy and comfort, and recognised pregnancy as an important, sometimes anxious, but life-affirming chapter.

Building our own practice began to feel like a professional responsibility.

Having been involved in establishing and refurbishing specialist rooms, fertility labs and day hospitals, I have learned that a private practice is part clinical home, part hospitality business, part property decision and part long-term commercial commitment. Here are the lessons I would share with a doctor considering their own rooms.

1. Choose a location around your patients

It is natural to favour a familiar hospital, a fashionable precinct or somewhere close to home. But the more important question is whether the site works for patients and referrers.

Think through the journey from leaving home to arriving at reception. Is parking straightforward? Is the entrance easy to find? Can a pregnant woman, an elderly patient or a parent managing two children arrive without the appointment becoming an ordeal?

Consider your referrers, too. Does the address make sense for the communities they serve?

“Convenience is not a trivial extra in private medicine. It is part of the service.”

In my experience, an accessible site with straightforward parking and a genuine connection to its community can be more valuable than a prestigious address that asks too much of patients.

2. Build somewhere you and your team can work well

You may spend more waking hours in your practice than at home. It should be somewhere you enjoy arriving on an ordinary Tuesday morning, not simply somewhere that looks impressive in opening-night photographs.

Natural light, useful storage, a proper staff area and somewhere to eat lunch all contribute to a more sustainable working life.

Involve your staff early. Doctors understand the consultation; staff understand everything around it. They know where paperwork accumulates, where prams block passage, what reception needs to see and how efficiently a room can be turned over between patients.

Their input can help turn a good-looking floor plan into a practice that functions well every day.

3. Have the important conversations before committing to a site

A practice build has a habit of following you home. It takes evenings, weekends and decisions about financial exposure that can feel theoretical until the first repayment arrives.

Your spouse or partner should understand the ambition, likely disruption and financial envelope before you fall in love with a site or an architect’s render. Discuss why the project matters and how you hope it will improve professional and family life over time.

Bring your professional advisers into the conversation early, too. In my experience, a good medical finance broker does more than find a rate. They help explain a medical career and a developing practice to a lender, including income trajectory, billing cycles, existing commitments, fit-out and equipment needs, and the period between opening and reaching full utilisation.

Speak with your accountant and lawyer about who will own the premises, who will operate the practice, how rent will work, and what future growth or succession could look like.

“We were trained to diagnose disease, not negotiate guarantees.”

These conversations deserve attention before you become emotionally committed to a property.

4. Allow room for the unexpected

Construction budgets are not improved by optimism. In my experience, the final stages of a project are often where expensive decisions appear.

Allow more contingency than initially feels necessary, and consider the opening period alongside the build itself. Completed rooms and a practice operating at full capacity are two different milestones.

The goal is to create a practice that gives you professional freedom, with enough commercial discipline to support the work you want to do.

5. Make accountability part of the build

For the right project, a healthcare design-and-construct group can provide a useful single point of accountability, from site assessment and planning through to construction and handover.

One capable team can also reduce the time you spend coordinating advisers who do not routinely speak to one another. For a doctor balancing clinical work, family and an emerging business, that time matters.

Some decisions need to be made properly from the beginning because they are difficult and expensive to retrofit:

• Accessibility and clinical workflow

• Acoustic privacy

• Reliable technology and cabling

• Storage

• Lighting and natural light

• Staff amenities

• A comfortable waiting area

Furnishings and decorative choices can wait. These cannot.

6. Plan how the practice will operate

If I were beginning again, I would spend even more time before construction on the operational details: the patient journey, staff workflow, technology, storage, signage, cleaning and the opening plan.

“Beautiful rooms without a disciplined operating model can become very expensive theatre.”

The real satisfaction comes after opening, when the practice finds its rhythm. Patients arrive without difficulty. Staff know where everything belongs. The rooms feel good to work in. Better care becomes easier to provide.

My advice is straightforward: build deliberately, not defensively. Create rooms with a clear purpose, in a location that serves your patients, and with the commercial discipline to sustain them.

A practice should give you professional freedom rather than become a permanent source of anxiety. Done well, it is an opportunity to create a place where you, your staff and your patients enjoy spending time.

About the Author

Associate Professor Vinay S. Rane is an obstetrician, gynaecologist, fertility specialist and lawyer. His experience includes establishing and refurbishing healthcare spaces, from specialist consulting rooms to fertility laboratories and day hospitals. Drawing on his clinical, legal and practice-building experience, he enjoys helping colleagues navigate the challenges of establishing a private practice, with a focus on patient experience, practical design and long-term sustainability. www.melbournemothers.com

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