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Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

T he last two British sum- mers have been memo- rable for many busi- nesses in the UK for a number of reasons: London 2012, Her Majesty The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations, floods, riots, fuel shortages, storms and power blackouts were just a few of the events that disrupted businesses across the length and breadth of the country. Whilst it is possible to predict when and how some man made events are likely to cause disruption to your prac- tice, a natural disaster cannot be predicted and so poses a real challenge to businesses. What can a business do to plan for the unknown; the ‘What if’ scenario? No Plan Over the years I have worked in businesses that have had to temporarily cease trading for a variety of reasons, all of which were beyond their con- trol. A very cold winter froze the locks of one business’ only access door, which meant that nobody could get into the premises. There was no con- tinuity plan and no one knew what to do! The staff, includ- ing me, arrived for work total- ly unaware of the problem; we were left standing outside in the bitter cold. The locksmith didn’t arrive until midday. We had no other option but to di- rect our customers to the com- petitor’s business next door! Gale force winds blew part of the roof off a relatively new building in which I was working. People working be- neath the damaged roof were moved. The engineers could not access the roof area until the high winds subsided. The staff affected continued their shifts ‘working from home’. The ability for these people to remotely connect to the main servers had been part of that business’ continuity plan, re- sulting in negligible disrup- tion to service levels. Computer hardware and software failures, theft and server down times regularly can cause disruption to ser- vices for both staff and cus- tomers alike. Even the biggest company can get this wrong, look at NatWest’s recent ex- perience! Having good backup systems in place will pay divi- dends. Personnel Losing personnel through ill- ness poses a serious risk to the smooth running of a prac- tice. Episodes of contagious viral illnesses unfortunately cannot be avoided, but can reduce staffing levels to the point where only a basic ser- vice can be delivered. It is not only your own staff who might be affected by a ‘flu epidemic’; remember that the availability of agency staff will also be re- duced. Keep details of all staff, their skills and past experi- ence in the plan; these skills could be called upon to help out in an emergency. Many practices have a lot- tery syndicate of which the nurses and receptionist are all members. What would hap- pen on a Monday morning if the syndicate had won on the Saturday night? If the win was substantial then I doubt they would report for work! Virtual If using a ‘virtual receptionist’ service appeals to a practice, make sure that details of this facility and its provider are fully documented in the con- tinuity plan. Test the service regularly to ensure connectiv- ity to the appointment book and that it meets the practice and the patients’ needs. Finding suitable contin- gency premises is essential, but can be a dilemma! Choose the contingency premises with care: too close to the practice and both premises could be af- fected by the same event; too far apart may cause a logisti- cal problem for staff, patients and suppliers alike. A practice can’t set up shop in the spare room in someone’s home even in the short term, so consider a reciprocal arrangement with another practice. The short notice change in location can be overcome by ensuring good communication with patients and suppliers, and perhaps the provision of a bus shuttle service for the patients, which would have to be agreed with the transport provider and, of course, noted in the continu- ity plan. Include a map of the contingency location and the premises layout in the plan. As part of the continuity plan process and review the prac- tice personnel should visit the temporary site so that they are familiar with it. Check all the practice procedure documents. Are all, even the simplest, stages of every activity or process undertaken in the practice recorded here? Make no as- sumptions that the person fol- lowing the procedure in the event of a disaster has any prior knowledge of the pro- cess. If directing the reader to ‘switch on the surgery’ state exactly how to do this and where the switch is located. Think about where these procedure papers are kept. If storing documents electroni- cally and off site, perhaps on a portable hard drive, or us- ing virtual storage, make sure the location of these files is detailed in the plan, together with any logon, password and file path information. Perhaps the documents need to be pro- tected from editing, so store them so that they can only be accessed as ‘read only’. Critical documents and in- formation held on computer may already have been cop- ied and backed up, but where are the copies and back-ups kept? Store them locally and they may also be affected or destroyed by the disaster, or may be inaccessible because the area is cordoned off. In- stalling a fire proof safe in the practice to safeguard docu- ments that are in the short to medium term irreplaceable is a good idea. This will safe- guard them against theft and fire, but will not protect them against a flood. Perhaps a set of certified copies should be stored off site. Back up A practice’s ability to react quickly to any incident that affects their ability to trade is critical. The secret to achiev- ing this is in continuity plan- ning, and regularly reviewing the continuity plan to ensure it is still accurate and rel- evant. A good continuity plan should take into account all the practices’ resources ie its premises, services, technol- ogy and people. Making continuity plan- ning part of the way a prac- tice operates helps prepare for ‘business as usual’ in the quickest possible time. This is preferable to taking the atti- tude of dealing with the disas- ter should if it ever happens. Having a tried and tested plan helps protect the practice against the impact of a man made or natural event, or dis- aster. There are plenty of online sites eager to share their ideas Does your continuity plan hold water or will it be powerless to help when the rains come? Linda Young discusses contingency plans for dental practices Have you planned for a ‘rainy day’? ‘Making continuity planning part of the way a practice operates helps prepare for ‘business as usual’ in the quickest possible time’ September 10-16, 20128Practice Management United Kingdom Edition