Creative director Les Jones speaks to regional support manager Donna Hall and Jane Mead, finance director at dental group Elegant Smiles, about life outside NHS dentistry.
Les Jones (LJ): Jane, you’re converting your group’s practices one at a time, aren’t you?
Jane Mead (JM): Yes. One was already fully private, so we started on the largest NHS one, which had 33,500 UDAs. We had four or five dentists at that time doing NHS, which was not feasible, as it wasn’t cost effective. It was disheartening for the dentist and the associates having to see 16 to 20 patients a day, working till seven o’clock at night trying to fit in the emergencies. In the end it just broke the dentist, and they lost interest.
I think there were about 16,000 patients registered and even in an eight-surgery practice, you can’t treat them all within decent timeframes. We were losing £50 to £60 pounds on a crown on the NHS. It just wasn’t fair on the dentist to have to pay that out of their own pocket, which is what was happening. They started refusing to do NHS work as they couldn’t afford it and weren’t making a living from it. These dentists were just losing money on the NHS and didn’t want to do it anymore.
LJ: What about the reaction of patients. How did that go?
JM: Our first conversion was tough because the patients ended up writing a complaint to the local newspaper. They didn’t understand why we were converting. They thought it was for money and profit, not for the patients. But as the state of NHS dentistry has had more coverage in the news, there’s been greater understanding.
The later conversions have got a lot easier as the patients are beginning to understand it a lot more. Whereas at the beginning there were quite a lot of threats, stares in supermarkets, angry phone calls, people coming into the practice to talk to receptionists. But with the later ones, patients’ attitudes are more: ‘Okay, that’s fine.’ And when the associates have started to speak to them about the conversions, they’re now signing up straight away rather than when they go in three months’ time as they want to keep their place.
LJ: We’ve also noticed it’s got progressively easier over the last few years. If you go back five or 10 years, any conversion was met with the press headlines of ‘the greedy dentists are leaving everyone in the lurch’. But the narrative has changed quite a lot in that respect, hasn’t it?
JM: You will always get those patients that will moan and who demand to be fitted in at a moment’s notice or expect an unrealistically quick turnaround for something as we’re private now. So, there’s still educating to be done.
But overall, the complaints have gone down since the conversions because patients are not expecting to be seen so quickly. But we do find that some of those patients that we would have liked to lose have stayed or have left and rejoined. You’re always going to get a few patients you’d rather not have.
Donna Hall (DH): I’d like to pick up on having fewer patients. One of the biggest fears in dentistry for a lot of dentists is litigation. And the reality is when you’re seeing so many patients in a day, you might fear that your notes are not as accurate they could be, or of getting lots of patient complaints, as you often do in the NHS.
That massively reduces when you’re private because you have the time to educate patients and to explain to them properly their treatment options and make sure that they’ve understood what you’ve done for them that day and what you’ve offered them. So, we often find complaints reduce in purely private practices.
LJ: When it comes to converting, Donna, what support does Practice Plan offer through the conversion process when it begins?
DH: Once we’ve completed our assessment as to whether a conversion is right for you and you’re ready to go, we’ll have trained your team, not only on the plan and how that works, but also on the conversion. So, how to talk to patients, what objections you might get and how to handle those. We also give you scripts to help you. We really embed within the team to make sure that everyone feels ready.
With the clinicians, once the letters land informing patients of the change, one of our team will usually be in practice with you for a period. Especially during the week when your phones are ringing off the hook, and people are coming in with their letters in their hands. So, we will be there to support you through that process and that support will continue from then onwards.
LJ: Once the practice has gone through that conversion process and they’re up and running in a private capacity, does the support stop then or is there additional help available?
DH: We’ll always work closely with you. We are a very hands-on provider, which means we want to be an extension of your team. We are not here to get a quick bit of business from you and leave you to it. That’s not our ethos. We want to help you grow. We get involved in many aspects of your business, not just your plan. As Jane’s team will know, I’ll walk in and put the kettle on to make a brew. I’m that much part of their team now. So, we really want to be with you for the long term.
LJ: So, what about after you’ve made the conversion. From your perspective Jane, what difference has it made to you and to your practice?
JM: The dentists that have converted and the nurses that get to work with them, are all happier. They have more self-worth and belief in themselves. They’re not scared anymore to say to a patient ‘this is going to cost X’ because they can explain to the patient what that treatment involves rather than talking about treatment bands. A lot of the dentists are now also going on to do hands-on courses to enhance their skills.
From the patient side, they’re now taking care of their teeth a lot better. They’ll sign up to a one plus one plan where they get one examination and one hygienist appointment included, and they’ll go to the hygienist, and actually listen to what they have to say. Whereas before they would probably go for their checkup, pay their NHS fee, and come back in a year.
LJ: Everyone benefits, then. Thank you both.
Practice Plan has been welcoming practices into the family since 1995, helping them to grow profitable businesses through the introduction of practice-branded membership plans.
With over 300 years’ dental experience in our field team, if you’re looking for a provider that has that family feel but knows a thing or two about dentistry… Be Practice Plan and get in touch. Call 01691 684165 or visit www.practiceplan.co.uk/be-practice-plan/.
