You may be wondering why The VeinCare Centre is closed. You may have wondered why I had “disappeared”. Some of you may have forgotten all about me and maybe you are surprised that I have suddenly “popped up” with this message..

Well here’s what happened. Until October 2022 I was a practising doctor specialising in the treatment of leg veins. I treated people with unsightly veins, veins causing pain and discomfort and veins causing leg ulcers and phlebitis.

I had built a very successful private practice and I ran a specialist private vein clinic. I employed 7 people, we had won 2 prestige business awards and my clinic was on track to grow further.

The VeinCare Centre had survived the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 (remember that?), a series of recessions, it had survived COVID, lockdown, the invasion of Ukraine and the energy crisis that followed.

BUT…there was one thing that I and my clinic couldn’t survive! The devastating news in 2021 that my dear, beautiful wife had young-onset Alzheimer’s disease. That’s why I had to give up my practice and become my wife’s main carer. I just didn’t have the mental energy, emotional energy nor physical energy to run a business and look after my wife. I tried very hard to find a colleague to take over my patients, employ my staff and run this clinic, but it was not to be.

Until a couple of weeks ago, I didn’t know what I would do. I needed a purpose and I needed to work from home. I realised with help from my daughter that I had a lot to offer to other medics who were just starting their own private practice or who were just opening their own clinic.

“Dad, you have so much knowledge and experience – you’d make a Great Coach!” she told me. Kim, my daughter, is herself a successful coach, empowering others to use their voice and take control of their lives.

When I started writing this message, I wasn’t sure I would press “POST”. But now, just writing this with the intention of pressing “DELETE”, I feel it is important to let others who know me professionally and my former patients know what has happened and what I am doing now.

I am sad not to see my patients and to work with my professional colleagues at the Melbury Clinic VeinCare Centre. But now I look forward to helping doctors and nurses involved in private practice.