Nelson dermatologist retires
Nelson is soon to farewell a ‘‘good old fashioned doctor’’ who has treated Nelsonians with warts and all for decades.
Dermatologist Dr Peter Sears hasn’t found it easy to retire after 40 years as one of Nelson’s only skin specialists – he’s struggled to find someone to take over his Bridge St practice.
‘‘We didn’t want to just walk out and say; ‘sorry we’re not here, we’re closing the doors and there’s no-one to take over’,’’ he said.
A lack of trainee dermatologists across the country meant there weren’t many options for a succession plan.
Sears had been ‘‘relieved’’ when Tauranga-based practice Skin Centre, led by Dr Paul Salmon, agreed to buy the building and practice with the intention to continue a full-time dermatology service in Nelson.
Initially their dermatologists will be ‘‘coming and going’’ on a part-time basis.
‘‘I think it will end up being a good dermatology unit, but it will just take a little while to build it up,’’ Sears said.
He was pleased the community would still have access to ‘‘good dermatology locally’’, and from a New Zealand provider, but it would have a different style to the family-run business patients were used to.
Bridge St Dermatology has about 5000 current patients and Sears has aimed to provide affordable services.
‘‘My philosophy has always been to provide a service that is accessible by most people.’’
Sears developed techniques that allowed him to deal with things such as skin cancers on the spot, without needing to refer patients for more complicated surgeries – opting to ‘‘scrape and burn’’ where possible.
His ‘‘safety net’’ with this approach was his relationship with the hospital pathologist, following up personally to take a close look at the specimen.
‘‘Sometimes you’ll get something invasive and nasty and see it clearly needs to be cut out in a big- ger way, so we get it done,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s always been a very good relationship.
‘‘If the pathologist says; ‘ooh that’s pretty dodgy, I don’t like the look of that’ then we’ll get it cut out more widely.’’
Sears would miss seeing patients, but having turned 65 back in 2013, decided it was time to ‘‘do something else’’. He’s also been the dermatologist for both Nelson and Blenheim hospitals, and held clinics in Motueka, Nelson and Blenheim once a month.
Local GP Graham Loveridge said Sears was given a standing ovation at a recent AGM for the Royal College of General Practitioners, for the contribution he’d made to the district for decades.
It was ‘‘unusual’’ to have such a heartfelt gesture from GPs for a specialist, and Sears was given painting as a retirement gift.
‘‘Despite working in private he’s tried to make things affordable for patients and he’s a very practical dermatologist,’’ Loveridge said.
‘‘He’s not been inclined to try and overtreat or do complicated stuff where simple stuff would suffice and he’s been great at teaching GPs techniques of biopsying and treating, making diagnoses, so his contribution has been across all levels of service.’’
Sears had always been keen to help improve the knowledge and skills of Nelson GPs, which had been a good strategy for a region with high rates of skin cancer owing to the climate.
He’d also given excellent care to patients, squeezing in referrals from GPs.
‘‘The whole of the community has certainly benefited from his knowledge.’’ ‘‘
Patient Ruth Fitzsimmons had Sears to thank for removing basal cell carcinomas from her face, but also spotting a life-threatening cancer.
‘‘He was responsible for getting my thyroid cancer diagnosed,’’ she said. ‘‘He noticed I had an abnormality he thought needed attention. That was back in 1988 and I’m still here thanks to him.’’
Three generations of her family had been treated by Sears and he’d always gone above and beyond.
‘‘He’s just been so dedicated and generous. We’re all quite shattered that he’s leaving but pleased for him that he’s going to have some downtime.’’
Sears will finish at the end of March.