Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

17Practice ManagementDecember 12-18, 2011United Kingdom Edition What is the difference between Frank Taylor and Associates and a dental agent? • When we do a totally independent valuation you can rely on and the agent doesn’t. • When we market your property to all of our registered 2000 plus potential purchasers and the agent doesn’t. • When we only ever act for the Vendor and the agent doesn’t. • When we never accept an undisclosed fee from the purchaser and the agent does. Tel: 08456 123 434 01707 653 260 www.ft-associates.com peakingrankly S O ver the years I have re- ceived a vast amount of calls from prin- cipals and practice manag- ers, their questions covering a wide range of practice man- agement issues. Managing a dental practice is not an easy task it doesn’t come natu- rally, it is a journey of learn- ing, and each year you con- tinue to learn something different. I can’t remember a year that everything remained the same, and we didn’t have to change some form of protocol or legislation to ensure as a practice we were compliant. But what really surprises me is the amount of managers who contact me, who are run- ning someone’s business and state that they don’t know much about practice management but don’t want the staff to know! Sometimes it makes me wonder how can that happen, how can anyone expect their business to thrive and have everything that is required in place, if the per- son who is managing the busi- ness is unsure. Ok, so there will always be elements you come across that make you test your ability, but surely gaining the qualification not only helps the manager but helps the principal. I spoke with a manager only last week who told me she was new to the profession with no dental background and didn’t know anything about dentist- ry but was fumbling her way through. I replied “I take my hat off to you, but you probably know more than you think,” so I asked her what did the letters GDC stand for, she provided me with the correct answer so I said “see you do know”, and I followed this by asking “what is the GDC there for”, the reply shocked me, the answer was “oh I don’t know that, you’re going to have to help me please.” How can anybody run a prac- tice without dental knowledge and understanding? What’s more from a business point of view is this good business move. Managing a bank or an office is nowhere near like managing a dental practice. I am aware that there are many managers who run practices who hold various management qualifications but dentistry is a different ball game from managing an ordinary of- fice. To make the job easier for all it would be an advantage to be working towards the qualifi- cation. I would not like to think I had no dental background and was suddenly given the ti- tle practice manager and be expected to deliver. Training is essential and personally I be- lieve that all managers should be qualified in Dental Practice Management, how can you ex- pect your team of DCP’s to be qualified and produce CPD if the leader doesn’t have to be quali- fied and doesn’t need CPD to comply. It doesn’t make sense. At this point I’m probably going to have loads of managers gun- ning for me!!! These are only my views. Out of interest I made en- quiries and was given the in- formation that 75 per cent of managers held no formal quali- fication in Dental Practice Man- agement. I understand that there will be non-members who have gained formal qualification in practice management; I just find the statistics a talking point. It may be interesting to have a poll to determine the actual figures. It’s impossible to guess the over- all qualified figure as there are various training programmes throughout the UK. I was in my forties when I sat the diploma and suddenly I was back at school. However, looking back I learnt not only from the tutor but from other managers taking the qualifica- tion. It wasn’t like study and it was surprising how many others were like me, all experiencing different issues and together we would tackle everyone’s prob- lems. It was a win – win situa- tion. In March I will have been in dentistry 40 years and I am still learning. I understand the cost of vari- ous courses can be expensive but surely this outweighs the fact than a clinician can con- tinue to treat patients and earn the revenue with the knowledge that the practice is being run by a trained and qualified practice manager who feels totally com- petent in all aspects of running a dental business. I also believe that once you have gained the diploma, it only a starting point, it provides you with a foundation and the un- derstanding, plus it gives you the confidence to handle issues, BUT for me it’s how you put into practice what you have learnt and more importantly how you are going to continue with the day to day developments that are being imposed on all practices through legislation that matters. It’s only a course but it’s a start and although you may think you don’t need tui- tion, you’re never too old to learn. DT To be or not to be… qualified Jane Armitage discusses how you’re never too old to learn ‘Training is essen- tial and personally I believe that all managers should be qualified in Den- tal Practice Man- agement’ You’re never to old to learn new tricks About the author Jane Armitage is an award-winning practice manager and has almost 40 years industry experience. She is currently a practice manager for Thompson & Thomas, and holds a Vo- cational Assessors award. She is also a BDA Good Practice Assessor, BDA Good Practice Regional Consultant, and has a BDA Certificate of Merit for services to the profession. She has her own company, JA Team Train- ing, offering a practice management consultancy service, which includes on-site assistance covering all aspects of practice management with a path- way if required for managers to take their qualification in dental practice management. If you’ve any memo- ries of the early 1970s or any specific choices of topics you’d like addressed, call Jane on 01142 343346 or email ja- nearm@tiscali.co.uk.