Charlotte Schofield opened the doors to her newly refurbished practice in Southport in September, having only taken over the building at the end of June. Applefield Dental Care reflects the outlook of the practice team (Charlotte and her two dental nurses, Emma Townsend and Helen Pilkington) and their attitude towards patient care, where comfort and a holistic approach to treatment are key.
Charlotte explains: “We aim to provide excellent quality dental treatment in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. We are different to a lot of practices as we try to take the emphasis away from scary dentistry and focus on relaxing the patient. We often give our advice and discuss a lot of our treatments over a cup of coffee. We pride ourselves on providing ethical and holistic dentistry to all.”
The practice came up for sale in the summer, and it was an opportunity for which Charlotte had been waiting some time. She explains: “I fell in love with the building and immediately saw myself in it. I saw the potential space we can expand into as the practice grows and I could see areas we could improve and adapt to put our own stamp on. With a high street location in a busy town, we hope we can attract local business people and the general public who want to continue shopping in town after their appointments. The building is a lovely Victorian three-storey property and we have retained as many of the original features as possible, such as the fantastic staircase.
Although not renovated yet, we do have amazing rooms upstairs with bay windows and so on, that we can expand into as the business grows.”
Charlotte chose fellow Southport business, McKillop Dental Equipment, to advise on and provide the very latest in dental surgery essentials. She says: “They were so helpful and supported me no end with not only the chair provision, but all other aspects of the refit.
They were always there at the end of a phone or a text to point me in the right direction in relation to the surgery, and had brilliant ideas about all the other aspects of the refit - from waiting room to cloakroom.”
Keen to ensure the patient experience in the chair would be a stress-free one, too, Charlotte relied on Takara Belmont to meet her expectations. Simon Pearce from McKillop took her to the Belmont showroom in Manchester so that she could test drive the different options. She says: “I liked the fact the chair is advanced but also straightforward to use. They have an excellent reputation and the warranty gives me peace of mind that it will last. Takara Belmont was also recommended by colleagues as a chair that will give a very good service.”
The choice of colour inside the practice was as important to Charlotte as her desire for comfort. She explains: “I wanted either a warm feel or a statement. Given we were keeping the cabinets; we were limited to colour choices. The warmer oranges and reds didn’t go with the grey cabinets at all and so our choices were limited to blues, green or black. I’m not a big fan of blue, and thought black may make the room smaller as there is little natural light. So, I opted for a bright colour to lift the space and brighten it up.”
The refurbishment began the last week of June and was completed mid September.
“It was approximately 10 weeks but this included major remedial work on the building also. The actual surgery refit was in next to no time after I finally decided on the colour.”
The makeover was extensive. Charlotte explains: “The waiting room was enormous, echoey and empty. There was still only one surgery running and I saw patients arrive and feel conscious they were in a vast empty space. They were uncomfortable with the waiting room and so I decided to make this smaller and we created our consultation room out of the excess space. The back room was the staff room, but it made sense to have this as the decontamination room. We have lots of rooms upstairs empty so we relocated the staff room upstairs.”
Now, Applefield has a ground-floor surgery, a waiting room, consultation room, decontamination room, patient cloakroom and staff cloakroom downstairs.
When setting out on her refurbishment odyssey, she had key factors that mattered – a comfortable waiting room to help the patients relax; an updated surgery within her budget requirements; and she was also keen that the practice would make a statement.
She also wanted patients to notice and appreciate the differences she made.
She concludes: “I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and, although it was tough doing it with a toddler and newborn in tow, I am so proud of what we have achieved, and am really excited every time I walk in the door.”