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Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

February 27-March 4, 201218 United Kingdom EditionPractice Management IDENTIFY PREVENT RESTORE RECALL Seeing is believing! Unique three tone plaque disclosing gel that identifies new, mature and acid producing biofilms. Tri Plaque ID Gel from GC. Part of GC‘s Minimum Intervention program. GC EUROPE N.V. Head Office Tel. +32.16.74.10.00 info@gceurope.com http://www.gceurope.com GC UNITED KINGDOM Ltd. Tel. +44.1908.218.999 info@uk.gceurope.com http://uk.gceurope.com S o far in this series I’ve written about how poten- tial new patient enquir- ies should be handled, creating a good impression and, in the last article, some ways of find- ing out what patients really think of you and your practice. Here, I’m continuing with the last theme by discussing patient consultation groups (PCGs) and why they can help you achieve a patient-centred practice. In the health service and general medical practices, PCGs have been around for a while. Indeed, from April 2010 all PCTs and SHAs were legally required to explain how they have acted upon feedback from patients and the public – the buzz phrase being “Real Accountability.” CQC Outcome 1 (respect- ing and involving people who use services…) means it is now a regulatory requirement for dental practices to gather feedback from patients (but not the public). PCGs are a mechanism for collecting face-to-face verbal feedback from patients in a cost- effective, minimally demanding (for the patients) way which, if done properly, should generate accurate and honest feedback. Don’t think of PCGs as merely ticking another CQC box – they can prove vital in helping you develop your practice. Okay, so what is a PCG? Es- sentially, it’s a number of your patients meeting to discuss you, your team and your practice. They are encouraged to con- sider different aspects of your service and make positive or negative comments. Clearly, you will need to initiate such a meeting and en- courage them to continue. Here are some things to consider. • How many patients should be in a PCG? I suggest ten at- tendees (see below) as a man- ageable number for a meeting • How do you arrange the first meeting? Decide on a date, a time and a location and invite patients with a personal letter, by telephone or when they visit your practice. Outline the rea- son for arranging the meeting an explain that you value their involvement and feedback • Who should you invite? You want a cross-section of patients – different ages, gender, ethnic- ity and social class. You want long-term patients and new patients, patients who’ve had lots of treatment and patients who’ve had little. They should be patients seen by each mem- ber of your clinical team. Some will be working, some will not. Some will have families, some won’t. Of course, to achieve such a broad cross-section you’d need to invite hundreds of patients. In practice try for the best cross-section you can by inviting 12 to 15 people – some Why improving your practice is a mystery - part five Jacqui Goss explains how to develop a patient-centred practice