From Managing Director

Lisa Sproule

Nurse Practitioner and Owner/Managing Director
Your Health Hub
Bachelor Nursing Science Grad Cert
Neuromedical Neurosurgical Nursing
Grad Cert Palliative Care
Grad Cert Aged Care and Dementia Associate
Diploma Business
Master of Nursing Science

Over the years I found that patient care particularly in chronic disease, was grounded in a reactive rather than a proactive model. As a Nurse Practitioner, my role evolved after graduation from my Masters degree whilst I was working in General Practice and I found myself more and more holistically caring for my patients rather than just reactively managing a disease, injury or ailment. It became very clear that a team approach to patient care was essential for good outcomes and that the fragmentation of health care services and a lack of communication between providers was leaving patients in a state of bewilderment and confusion.

Patients have an understanding of the health care providers they need to see on a regular basis to keep healthy, but accessing those services means tracking them down and then driving all over the city. Also identifying and coordinating the healthcare priorities for their health are often beyond their own reach. I observed that patients often knew what they ‘should do’ and yet seemed unable to do it. While medical and lifestyle advice are obviously an essential component of any illness prevention management program, it was clear that more was needed.

A significant deficit in access to health care service exists within our community. The development of an innovative entrepreneurial model of care delivery was clearly needed. A model that allows for improved service delivery and outcomes in a system that is clearly struggling. The development of this service needed to be one of collaboration, a union between both the private and public service providers as amongst a large pool of skill and talent exists grave inefficiencies in our health system. The idea of a sharing of resources that leads to greater efficiencies and the notion that community service provision needs to be based in the community

I had a vision and began developing Your Health Hub to provide a seamless one stop Multi-Disciplinary Healthcare Service. A service that made it easy for patients and Medical Specialists to access the care and assistance needed in a complete and comprehensive service. This marriage between Conventional Medicine and Complementary Medicine recognised there is not one perfect fit for every patient and that health care programs must be designed to meet the individual’s needs.

One of the key areas of Your Health Hub’s focus is “Healthy Ageing” and by developing tailored programs to assist in the healthy ageing of our community, it was clear to me that I had an amazing opportunity to create a “unique” facility that addressed many of the healthcare gaps in our health system and a special place where all felt welcome.

The programs that we have developed at Your Health Hub are designed to fill such gaps whilst working hand in hand with Medical Specialists and the patient’s General Practitioner. These innovative programs range from disease prevention to keeping those individuals living with chronic illness as healthy as possible whether they are young or old. We aim to help address the underlying causes of illness and as a result maintain patient wellness, whilst monitoring chronic illnesses.

Obesity and weight related chronic disease conditions place an enormous strain on the health care sector. It is recommended that strategies focus on early identification and helping people to manage their condition at home, as well as fast tracking emergency and chronic disease self-management services, including weight loss programs in the community. The prevalence of dementia is also predicted to increase significantly as the population ages. Without preventative measures, the burden of dementia will grow, especially as 50-80% of patients with dementia are yet to receive a formal diagnosis and thus appropriate management.

Your Health Hub’s diverse team of health professionals, represents a real change in care delivery from the current reactive medical model to a proactive, preventative health oriented way of delivering care, to both the local population and rural and remote areas of Tasmania.

For many years I worked within large Healthcare Organisations and always felt like I never really “fit in”. However in hindsight I know see that a huge part of my journey has been about being different. I have finally embraced this fact and come to the realisation that although being different is often not easy for others to understand it can be a powerful thing that fosters change within society. Below I have shared with you some of my key philosophies that have driven me to where I am today.

Start with the why

I would like to share with you the moment of realisation that my vision and my nursing practice all made sense – a colleague and fellow Nurse Practitioner sent me the Ted Talk link “How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action”. As I watched it I had a lightbulb moment – I suddenly understood why I have always felt so different and now my career experiences and vision finally made sense.

“Why do some companies achieve things that completely exceed our expectations, defying all our assumptions for what’s possible?”

This is a question that Simon Sinek asks the audience as he begins his famous Ted Talk. Sinek, a bestselling author and keynote speaker set out to discover why companies like Apple have been able to achieve such extraordinary success, while others with the same resources have failed.

He explains it through his idea called “Start With Why.” And as it turns out, his findings have important implications for inbound marketers too.
 According to Simon Sinek, the fundamental difference between the “Apples” of the world and everyone else is that they start with “why”.

To explain this concept, Sinek developed what he calls the “Golden Circle,” The golden circle has three layers:

• Why – This is the core belief of the business. It’s why the business exists.
• How – This is how the business fulfills that core belief.
• What – This is what the company does to fulfill that core belief.

It sounds simple, but what Sinek found is that most companies do their marketing backwards. They start with their “what” and then move to “how” they do it.  Most of these companies neglect to even mention why they do what they do. More alarmingly, many of them don’t even know why they do what they do!

From the moment the idea to build Your Health Hub began, people continually asked me what model of care I was following. In all honesty I could not answer that question at that time. This certainly upset those in the business community that could not see the vision. But I was confident that if we started with the why, then the what – would evolve.

This principal was particularly evident in the recruitment of practitioners – individuals became drawn to the Vision of The Hub, not by applying for a job but to being a part of a vision for patient care that we were all so passionate about.

This momentum drew into it over 30 practitioners to join the service without a single advert prior to our opening. This was even without an actual facility for them to visualise. I could see others too become excited about my vision and knew then that this was going to be something great.

Dedication and Thanks

I want to express my sincere thanks to my amazing team of health professionals, Practice Manager and Administrative Team. Thank you for assisting me in realising our dream to work in this incredible model.

I dedicate the opening of this facility to the memory of my much loved Grandparents Alva and Max Phillips whose belief in me to achieve anything I chose to do in my life knew no limits.

Also to my parents Jan and Graeme Phillips who without their love and support none of this would have been possible.

I finally and most importantly want to thank my wonderful husband Rowan, and my children – Alexandra, Nikolas, Sarah and Victoria who have all done their part in supporting me unconditionally whilst having to tolerate the long absences I have had away from home to set up this business.

Rowan has been by my side during this journey with constant support and unconditional belief in me in all ways possible and I thank him for that.