Focus on the future

N

obody likes change but businesses who prepare for and deal effectively with different ways of working often prosper over the long-term – especially when it comes to accelerating quality and boosting performance.

The dental industry here in the UK is a sector where massive change is looming with modernisation driven by Westminster-led dental reforms and a pilot scheme aimed to fine tune contracts between dentists and the NHS. It has been labelled the ‘care pathway’ approach and, love it or hate it, it is likely to be rolled out sometime in 2017.

After sitting down with people across the industry in recent months it is clear that many practice owners and managers have, unintentionally, failed to grasp or understand how their world will change. So what actually is happening? Put simply, NHS dental contracts are being revised with the intention to focus more on the customer by measuring the performance of dentists through a qualitative approach.