Connie Hopper speaks to Carol Laffan, one of the Principal Dentists at Laffan Dental Care, about her experience in dealing with various phases of COVID-19 compared to moving away from the NHS, and the importance of having a plan membership in place…
COVID-19 has left the world reeling, changing both the lifestyles we lead and the way in which we work potentially forever, and the dental landscape is no exception. Now more than ever, the benefits of having a well-populated plan membership are all too clear, not just for a dental practice but also for patients.
Having started as an NHS practice, Carol, Martin and the team at Laffan Dental Care are no strangers to big changes in the way they practise. In 2006, the practice moved from the NHS to private provision after the NHS contract changed to the UDA system and introduced their membership through DPAS to help the transition.
I was keen to understand how they’ve coped with the onslaught of COVID-19 and how it compares to previous challenges they’ve faced.
Connie: Can you tell me a little bit about the practice – why did you introduce your membership with DPAS?
Carol: Laffan Dental Care has been established for over 100 years. We took over the practice in 1986 and it’s been a non-stop expansion ever since.
In 2006, we made the decision to leave the NHS, keeping hold of the child and exempt NHS contract. Offering a Laffan Dental Plan Membership helped us through that change by giving patients an affordable way to pay for independent appointments and treatment.
We now operate a six-surgery practice, with 21 members of staff and over 4,000 plan members.
Connie: It’s fantastic to have such a large team. How did you manage the team and navigate through lockdown?
Carol: We decided very early on that we were going to operate in three separate pods – Team A, Team B and Team C. They worked on rotation so that the pods didn’t cross at any point.
All team members, even our dentists, took it upon themselves to contact plan patients as we felt we had a duty of care to reach out to them during lockdown to see how they were getting on. Our concern at this point from a business point of view was that we would start losing our plan members when they couldn’t come in for their recall appointments.
It was a very worrying time for us, but at the end of lockdown, we’d only lost a handful of patients. Some of those who threatened to leave stayed with us after we discussed with Tracy, our Business Development Manager at DPAS, about suspending their memberships.
I think the success in maintaining plan numbers was due to our dentists and team getting in touch with patients directly, a phone call from their dentist is not what patients expect to receive. They genuinely wanted to chat, even if it wasn’t necessarily dental related. I think this has helped us build loyalty within our patient base further.
Connie: You mentioned that you moved away from the NHS in 2006, how did you find that process and how does it compare to the challenges you face now with COVID-19?
Carol: When the NHS contract changed in 2006 to the UDA system, we felt we could no longer provide the level and quality of service our patients were used to and indeed deserved. That in itself restricted the practice in being able to move forwards. The fact that treatments and time we felt our patients deserved weren’t a possibility was a non-negotiable issue for us – particularly when our hygienists have been such a popular part of our service to the community.
If we wanted to keep an environment that was comfortable, patient-friendly and up to date with the best treatments, technology and materials, we knew we needed to make the jump to independent provision.
The prospect was very scary – we were walking away from an NHS contract worth a huge amount of money but managed to maintain a child and exempt contract to ease the transition. We were amazed, however, by the loyalty and the number of patients signing up as private patients and we’ve never looked back.
Comparing that situation to now, we’re managing a waiting list for NHS patients who are realising they can’t get into an NHS practice whenever they need, and they aren’t getting the services they want such as seeing a hygienist.
Connie: How have you found the support from the DPAS team through all the challenges you’ve faced?
Carol: We’ve known Tracy since the very beginning when we joined DPAS. She held our hand through the change from NHS to private and in helping us grow our membership.
It’s a comfort to know that she’s at the other end of the phone whenever we need her, although we’re now fortunately very self-sufficient.
In terms of the support we’ve received through the pandemic, Ian Eslick has helped boost morale by sharing his inspirational posts and experiences on social media. They are a very approachable team of people.
On top of this, DPAS halving the administration fee during lockdown was brilliant and completely unexpected. With such a large team, every penny counted during lockdown and it’s helped our team emerge stronger and still intact. We didn’t furlough any of our staff – they were on 100% of their wages.
Having the money coming in from our membership plan every month helped ease the pressure. We’ve been very fortunate, I think, compared to other practices.
Connie: How do you think you would have fared under the NHS as opposed to private during the pandemic?
Carol: Currently, with practices being given up to 80% of their monthly contract value, which is quite a lot, I think a lot of practices are sitting back because the money is coming in regardless.
That’s fine for them during this period, but when we do get back on track, I think there will be a lot of NHS patients that won’t be happy with how they were treated.
We’ve had so many emergency NHS patients call us willing to pay for private treatment because they can’t get hold of an NHS dentist.
In my eyes, NHS dentistry will become a very reduced service in the future, particularly with the NHS saying that the hygienist isn’t necessary. It’s out of touch with what patients want from their dentist.
Connie: Thank you Carol, it looks like you have a very positive outlook for your future in coming out of the pandemic and for any future challenges Laffan Dental Care may face.
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