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Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

17Practice ManagementJanuary 23-28, 2012United Kingdom Edition Y ou do like my articles don’t you? Nobody has ever rung me up and said they don’t and all my friends think I write brilliantly. Surely, feedback is only important if the mic is too near the speaker? Apparently not. On the GDC website is a revealing research report entitled General Dental Council Patient and Public At- titudes to Standards for Dental Professionals, Ethical Guidance and Use of the Term Doctor. It was issued in November 2010 so is quite current. In case you’ve not read it, here are a few points from the report: • A large proportion of respond- ents within the focus groups re- ported a mistrust of dentists in the UK • A prevailing concern leading to this mistrust is the view held by some participants that dentists are not seen as just healthcare professionals but rather as busi- nessmen • Ineffective communication con- tributed to a majority of respond- ents’ negative experiences This article is not the vehicle for debating the report and I’ve only referred to it to highlight how feedback, if conducted correctly, can produce some surprising out- comes. I too have had patients tell me negative things about dentists and dental staff – things they were completely unaware of. Here’s one example: the pa- tient had not liked the way she had been treated by the reception staff whom she found to be some- what indifferent and unfriendly. She had expected a much better service and felt her experience did not live up to expectations and would not be returning. Unless you know, you can’t do anything about it. Equally, if you get positive feedback you know you’re doing well in that area and can concentrate on improve- ments elsewhere. There are many ways to get feedback and I’ll write about pa- tient consultation groups (PCGs) in my next article. Here, I want to deal with one-to-one patient sur- veys. Just before a patient rushes out after an appointment, a mem- ber of staff can try engaging them to answer a full clipboard of ques- tions. I wish you luck if you try this approach (ie don’t). You can pass the patient a written ques- tionnaire to complete. Again, I wish you luck if you’re seeking honest and comprehensive an- swers (ie you won’t get both). In terms of garnering on-the- spot feedback, the best you can do, and I believe this is worthwhile, is for the front of house (FOH) staff to pose a straightforward ques- Jacqui Goss explains how to find out what patients really think of your practice (and you) Why improving your practice is a mystery - part four page 18DTà