With NHS practices working at nowhere near full capacity, there has been a scramble to find a dentist for thousands of people around the UK.
Some practices are happy with the extra business, but some can’t cope with the amount of new enquiries.
Regional Support Manager Jo Philpott has been speaking to both practices who are welcoming new business and those who are struggling to fit people in.
Here are some of Jo’s top tips to deal with a big influx of patients…
The current landscape
It is a juggling act for practices at the moment. A lot of the bigger practices have got capacity to be able to deal with it, whereas a lot of the smaller, more independent practices are not able to do that.
It is interesting to hear that the bigger practices are more or less back to some kind of normal now after having top filtration systems installed, which means that fallow time is right down for them, and they can see more patients.
Speaking to many smaller practices, they remain focused on carrying out emergency work and some examinations, but aren’t doing many other treatments. They’re generally fully private and don’t have the rules and regulations of an NHS practice.
They want to offer other treatments but until such time that they can invest in adequate ventilation systems to get their fallow time reduced, they’re unable to see as many patients.
A lot of them have patients knocking at their door asking to join the practice but smaller practices with longer fallow times just do not have the capacity and that is the issue – I can’t see that issue going away for some time.
Looking after loyalty
Before taking on new patients, it is important that you look after what you’ve got – looking after your loyal customers should be your number-one priority.
It may be worth calling up your existing patients who are shielding and chatting to them to see if they are okay, and to say you’re still there for them if they need you.
Keeping your plan patients front of mind and ensuring they have been recalled for their regular oral health examinations is also important.
Looking after loyalty is vital.
Taking on more patients
If a practice is receiving lots of enquiries but are unable to accommodate any more patients, it’s definitely worth setting up a waiting list.
Offering a patient the option to go on your waiting list means that when things begin to change and restrictions ease, you’ll already have a list of patients you can contact without having to recruit patients from scratch.
If you have got any more capacity or room to set up an extra surgery then it may be worth considering that.
If you have got staff on furlough and you’re able to set up an extra surgery, then it may be worth bringing them back and starting that up.
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