Whilst it isn’t easy to run a business in any industry, a dental practice certainly
poses its own set of unique challenges to a practice manager. Keeping staff happy, dealing with dentists, meeting patient expectations, not to mention
battling with the stress of regulation and the small matter of remaining solvent,
even for a small single handed pracan be tough. But the Dental Access Centre in Plymouth is not just a single-handed practice with a modest number of patients. Set up in 2003 the centre has 10 surgeries running each day, there are eight full time dental surgeons (12 in total), along with one hygienist, a therapist, 23 dental nurses, two workers concentrating solely on decontamination along with 15 administrative workers. An average month will see the DAC treat around 660 emergency care patients as well as provide over 250 special care sessions. The DAC also has responsibility forctice with a modest practice list management several in school projects in deprived areas of the city, providing fluoride varnishing and screening. To organise and run the sheer volume and scale of the work provided means the management of the DAC is far from an easy task. The management team consists of Kirsty White, dental nurse manager, Kathleen Pyne, business manager, Elaine Knight, clinical lead and Jacqui Wagner corporate service and business manager, Plymouth Community Healthcare.
Jacqui’s professional experience was gained outside the dental industry. Whilst this meant there was a steep learning curve for her when she joined the team, it also meant the she approached everything at the DAC with a clean slate, and questioned things other managers may well have just accepted. There was no question of continuing to do things just because “that’s how we have always done it”, and the entire working practice was put under scrutiny.
Being a dental access centre with an NHS contract, the opportunities available for business growth were limited, but that doesn’t mean efficiencies couldn’t be found that would have a real effect on finances. The first area covered was that of stock.
It didn’t take long for Jacqui to realise that the organisation of stock at the DAC was in need of a complete overhaul. Without an effective ordering system in place the centre was filled with an embarrassing abundance of some products that had been on a repeat order. Though this created storage space issues and tied up funds, a much bigger worry was the amount of goods that had passed their use by date and so had to be thrown straight out without even being opened.
The realisation that so much money was just being wasted forced Jacqui to immediately begin searching for a stock ordering system. After a chance conversation with Plandent’s Jacqui Nail, she agreed to install the PlanOrder System.
The system boasts an almost total end to wastage as goods are not ordered until necessary. The constant ordering of stock and frequent deliveries have proved successful though, and the DAC has never fallen short of any items ordered.
Whilst in an ideal world changes brought in are enthusiastically welcomed by staff, in the real world it is often viewed with scepticism. A few weeks after installation however, the team were fully behind the PlanOrder System. It made the whole process of stock ordering and management much easier, saving valuable time and effort. Whilst a push for efficiency can sometimes
mean redundancy, in this case it meant one less job for one of the dental nurses and so more surgery time helping with patients.
The antipathy towards change is not exclusive to nurses and nonclinical staff. Dentists too can be reluctant to make changes to their working environment, particularly in terms of the tools and materials they use. Many practice managers would consider a dentist’s order as a fixed cost that cannot even be questioned.
Whilst always leaving the final decision up to the dentist, patient safety would never be compromised, the team made full use of free samples and trial offers to ensure the materials and tools being used were cost efficient, as well as fit for practice. This itself managed to create savings for the DAC.
Though the introduction of the PlanOrder system has made the task of stock control and ordering much easier, ultimately its success has to be judged on its prime purpose, which for the DAC was to help save money. Prior to installation Jacqui was told she could save £10k a year, in fact the figure for the first year was over £20k, so the team at the DAC would definitely declare it a success.