me and my practice
Since the day I left school my career has always been in dentistry. I started as Dental Nurse in an Orthodontic Practice, later moving onto an admin role in a large medical practice, to the role I have now as Practice Manager at The Old Surgery.
Twelve years ago there was one dentist, one nurse and myself, but goodness me how things change! We now have a six surgery practice, with three dentists, two hygienists, one therapist, two oral surgeons and twelve other members of staff and of course, myself.
I would love to be able to describe what I do on a day to day basis, but the truth is that every day is different, one day I am the accountant paying the bills and salaries, calculating the financial forecasts, managing the accounts. The next day I will be the admin lady, organising rotas, sorting out holidays, checking emails. The day after that I could be nurse to an ill member of staff, a tutor to a new team member or, a marketer checking in with Practice Plan on our marketing activity. Simply put, I wear a different hat every day of the week but, rest assured there are two things that always remain constant on a daily basis; I am always trying to find my desk under all the post and I am always religiously interrupted from the task in hand!
If I had one wish as a Practice Manager, I would wish for more time. I only have one pair of hands and when you’re juggling a multitude of tasks, the minutes on the clock seem to move at lightening speed! Every job has its own struggles and, I come across a number of difficulties in my role, staff training, keeping up-to-date with health & safety and cross infection, customer service, patient satisfaction, marketing, and my own career development. However, as cheesy as it may sound having Practice Plan as our dental plan provider is a god send, because they are forever on hand to answer my queries, and there is never a problem too big or too small for them to help out with. They support me and the practice across the board, from workshops and training for the team, to advice in converting NHS patients to private, although the tool that I have found the most invaluable is their marketing support.
Practice Plan worked with us from scratch to create our own unique brand, a brand that each and every one of us is proud of and that is what is so fantastic, Practice Plan know us! They know what we like and what we want to achieve, therefore we are not just one of many, we are The Old Surgery Practice who provide monthly dental plans our way, with our individual style.
I never came into dentistry expecting to evolve into a marketer, it is something that I never dreamt of doing, but now it is an essential part of my role and is absolutely crucial for the success of the practice and this is when the relationship I have with the marketing team at Practice Plan becomes essential.
Working as a team we have revamped our brand and all our marketing, the list of materials we have worked on is endless: new brochures, newsletters, flyers, adverts, appointment and business cards, price lists, website optimisation, posters, questionnaires. All of which have been excellent quality, value for money and most importantly we have seen a remarkable increase in patient numbers, new registration and turn-over.
Without blowing their trumpet too much, I have to say Practice Plan have been brilliant. They are honest and give constructive criticism when needed. They are professional and efficient and on a personal note they are very patient with indecisive practices!
On a personal note another incredible influence on my role as Practice Manager is being a member of the BDPMA, it is really important to me. It shows that a good PM allows their dentists to concentrate on dentistry which is what they should be allowed to do. The BDPMA recognise that we, the Practice Managers, are the glue that holds together a successful practice and provide us with the tools to our jobs successfully. They help in the way of forums, training, legal advice, journal subscription to keep up with the latest dentistry news, all of which have been an incredible support tool.
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