if I only knew then, what I know now…

Mark Hill, Churchill Way Dental Practice

Converting from NHS to private was the hardest business decision I have ever had to make but, knowing what I do now, I wish I had done it years before.

I decided to convert to private dentistry because I was growing increasingly frustrated at not being able to provide the type and quality of treatment that I wanted for my patients. The NHS reduces every clinical decision to the lowest common denominator and it was becoming a prevention instead of an aid. I was prevented from using the latest material and treatments, simply because of financial reasons. Prevented from spending the right amount of time with my patients, and prevented from developing and building-upon the advanced dentistry I had trained to be able to provide.

I discussed conversion options with all of the main providers of private plans, all of whom wanted to talk about themselves, Practice Plan was the only company that actually asked me about myself, my business, our goals, and that’s why it was a simple choice to select them as my plan provider. It was evident that they had my business interests at heart, they spent time actually financially calculating how to reach a successful conversion, and from this I knew they were a company I could work with and have proved worthy of this over the last five years.

Naturally the conversion itself was nerve wracking, we had made a large investment into refurbishing the practice to improve its appearance and then subsequently wrote to all of our patients telling them in so many words to either join us or leave, of course it was a nail-biting time, but the truth be told it was extremely uneventful! We expected a lot of complaints from patients but, on the day the letter landed, we only received a few phone calls, and simply from people wanting to complete the paper work!

With the invaluable support of our regional support manager and the planning that they assisted us with, the conversion went without a hitch and everything over the first three months happened almost to the day that we were advised it would. I now have a wonderful business, with half the patients but twice as much time to spend with them as I did before, enabling me to do relaxed, high quality dentistry that benefits the patients.

Practice Plan makes running my business easier, smoother and more efficient, with support in areas that are so important for the future of a modern dental practice.

We use the support of the marketing department who are superb. Their advice and support is so welcomed as we have very little training in that area, but with their help it has brought huge value to our business in terms of image, reputation and ultimately financial return. We have completely revamped our business image including letterheads and welcome packs.

What has always impressed me about the Practice Plan team is their enthusiasm for their job and also in helping me make a success of my business. They are a large family who know us and that reflects in the work they do for us, they always go out of their way. The marketing and design team recently supported the practice and myself in developing and delivering a lecture to local practitioners on our field of expertise, they helped make the event a huge success with great feedback. I am also fortunate to have strategic meetings with the management team at Practice Plan who assist us in devising ongoing business plans in the way of strategic meetings. Their advice has been extremely useful in helping us to strategically plan for the future.

The thing that makes me want to refer Practice Plan to others is, I feel that they are a company that truly work with a practice to help them achieve their unique practice goals. Deciding on Practice Plan was one of the best business decisions I have ever made, we are all more content as a team and more importantly, we have control of our business’s destiny.

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Achieving loyalty through excellence is the Churchill Way Dental Practice’s motto. The Cardiff based practice has a team of ten, compromising of three dentists, one hygienist, three nurses, one practice manager and two receptionists. Run in a friendly, relaxed and informal manner the practice provides both preventative and restorative services to the highest of standards.