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Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

19Practice ManagementFebruary 27-March 4, 2012United Kingdom Edition will fail to turn up on the night and you’ll probably have about the right number of actual attendees •Whichdaysandtimesarebest? Avoid Fridays and weekends and dates when there’s a vital football match or the final of Strictly Come Dancing on television. Early even- ing, say 7.00 or 7.30pm, is prob- ably as good a time as any. State a finish time (and stick to it) – about one and a half hours is the maxi- mum time the meeting should last • Where should you hold it? In your practice is both the best and cheapest option. It’s good for pa- tients to visit your practice for oth- er than treatment as it helps lower any barriers to communication. Second choice would be to hire a private room in a smart local hotel • Who should run it? Not you! Pa- tients will be most unlikely to ex- press honest opinions if the dental principal hosts the meeting. The same applies to members of staff. Use a facilitator – somebody good at controlling meetings while involving everybody and with some knowledge of dentistry and your practice. Importantly, even though they will be receiving a fee and/or expenses, the facilita- tor can declare themselves in- dependent and assure the group members of confidentiality • Should staff attend? This is a tricky one. On the one hand you want there to be dialogue and in- teraction during the meeting so that issues raised by patients can be addressed. On the other hand, you don’t want patients to feel uneasy at the presence of people they may be indirectly (or even directly) criticising. Giv- en that clinical matters are not to be discussed, I sug- gest your practice manager and/or patient coordinator andmaybeamemberofyourfront of house team should sit in – with the proviso that they leave the room if doing so will aid openness • What about refreshments? Of- fering light refreshments such as tea, coffee, soft drinks and biscuits is a good idea and would certainly be deemed courteous. Of course, you’ll wish to make sure what you offer is both nutritious and good for their teeth! • Should they be paid? Advertis- ing any form of payment or gift could be construed as an induce- menttoattendandmightwellland you in trouble with the GDC. How- ever, it would be polite to give par- ticipants some form of ‘thank you’ at the end of the meeting.How about negotiating some vouchers from a suitable local shop? As preparation for the first meeting, you’ll need to liaise with your facilitator. Discussion within the PCG needs to be both directed and free ranging – an obvious contradiction. The fa- cilitator needs an idea of the sort of things you want feedback on. Maybe it’s your new appoint- ment booking system, the prac- tice website or the range of ser- vices you offer. You may also wish the facilitator to preview things you are considering introducing – a practice plan, finance terms, later opening hours and so on. The facilitator can usefully ask very open questions of the group such as: “How could we improve your visits to this practice?” In my experience the answers are often quite small things that are easy overlooked. In one practice the first afternoon appointments are at 2pm but the door is kept closed from 1pm to 2pm for lunch – so patients arriving early (as mostdo)havetowaitoutsideinthe cold and rain. Opening the door at 1.55pm solved this problem. You’ll also be pleased to learn that some people in PCGs declare themselves very happy with a dental practice. Patient feedback is not always negative and is cer- tainly not to be feared. The old retail adage of ‘the customer is al- ways right’ (thought to have been coined by Harry Gordon Selfridge in the early 1900s) applies equally to dental practices. Initiate regu- lar PCG meetings (perhaps with the membership changing a little each time), act on the feedback and you’ll soon fulfil the ideal of a patient-centred practice. DT www.ctscan.co.uk IDT Dental Products Ltd, Unit GC Westpoint, 36-37 Warple Way, London W3 0RG. 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By using Yes!RESULTS den- tal practices see an increase in treatment plan take- up, improved patient satisfaction and more appointments resulting from general enquiries. Yes!RESULTS turns good practices into great practices. Jacqui Goss Partner, Yes!RESULTS Tel: 08456 448066 Mob: 07795 562617 Email: jacqui@yesresults.co.uk Website: www.yesresults.co.uk Twitter: @Yesresults www.facebook.com/Yesresults http://uk.linkedin.com/in/jacquigoss