Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

For more information or to place an order please call 0800 169 9692 email sales.uk.csd@carestream.com or visit www.carestreamdental.co.uk © Carestream Dental Ltd., 2012. features of r4 R4 Mobile Direct link to PIN pad Patient Check-in Kiosk Care Pathways Communicator Steritrak E-Forms Patient Journey on-line appointment Booking Text Message and Email reminders Clinical Notes Appointment Book Digital X-Ray Managed Service Practice Accounts Give your patients the freedom to book their own appointments • From a Laptop • From an iPad • From a Smartphone R4 PracticeManagementSoftware GIVES YOU MORE Online Patient Appointment Booking allows patients to book appointments online, whenever they want to, or need to, even out of normal surgery hours. While this makes it very convenient for your patients, you still have complete control over who can make the bookings, the types they can book, with who and when. A quick glance will tell you when an appointment has been made so that you are able to accept, refuse or adjust any request. This gives your patients greater accessibility to you and your colleagues with increased feelings of inclusivity and you’ll have fewer missed appointments. May 21-27, 20128 Business Management United Kingdom Edition O ne of the phrases that I find myself using when I write analysis reports for my clients goes along the lines of: “Practice ownership can be a lonely place; being a medical professional has unique innate pressures, hav- ing to make immediate deci- sions with patients that are awake and where you have a finite time to complete pro- cedures produces even more pressure.” Being the owner and main producer of a small business is lonely too. Dentists, in common with a lot of solopreneurs, are no- toriously poor leaders; they have problems separating manage- ment from leadership. They find it difficult to keep themselves in a position where they are able to make decisions about their busi- nesses in a dispassionate way. I then encourage them to read (and re-read) ‘The E-Myth Revis- ited’ by Michael Gerber. That said, I don’t offer any easy solutions; I encourage practice owners to try to ensure there is balance in their lives (that’s another article). I request that they get away from their surgeries and go home at a reasonable hour and, in the words that Roy Higson taught me, “men- tally wipe their feet on leaving their surgery”. In recent weeks I have come to realise once again how im- portant it is to have a support network of straightforward and thoroughly professional advisers. By these I mean accountants, so- licitors, bank managers and IFAs (and business consultants). The need for a business owner to be able to share the non-clinical problems of their practice is vital. Too many principals march (or should that be trudge?) on, day after day, knowing that they have significant challenges that they have neither the training nor the natural aptitude to handle. The lesson I have learned is to ensure that all my clients have advisers in place rather than to presume. It’s vital for them to know exactly what they are able to assist them so they have to un- derstand the breadth and depth of the adviser’s talents. In turn the adviser, like all professionals, need to have a network of back up people who can be relied upon when and if the problems become really complex. So let’s start with the money and Rees’s Top Ten Tips to finding and working with an accountant. Get used to the idea that you have to have an accountant and that you are going to have to pay them for what they do; any ac- countant worth their salt will save you more money than they cost and will also prevent premature grey hair! 1Find the most successful dentists working in a similar man- ner to how you wish to work and ask them who they use. Research three or so and be prepared to in- terview them (and vice versa). 2Ensure the accountant is fully qualified; anyone can set up a business and call themselves an accountant without so much as a GCSE in maths. You’re looking for a chartered or certified account- ant, check that they are what they are say they are by visiting their professional body’s website. 3Get to meet them, and ensure The importance of a professional advisor Alun Rees provides his top 10 tips to finding and working with an accountant