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Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

must be reader friendly and at- tractive using the house style and font. Correspondence with patients will include new patient letters to introduce the practice; these letters provide important opportunities to set the tone of the relationship between the practice and the patients. In most cases tem- plate letters will be made available ready to be personal- ised for use. Templates should be signed off by the practice management and in a format that prevents errors in add- ing personalised content. In some cases styles and formats could be used to appeal to pa- tients based on their age or demographic. Emails Whereas the etiquette for let- ter writing is generally un- derstood, this is not the case for email etiquette. In many cases these days email is the preferred method of com- munication. They are fast and effective, but to ensure they project the correct image of the practice, guidelines should be in place, since emails sent out from the practice reflect upon its friendliness and professionalism. There- fore measures should be put in place to ensure that the language used is polite, courteous, and appropriate. Stringent measure should be taken to ensure confidenti- ality is maintained and your computer equipment is virus guarded. Practice protocols should be agreed about checking for incoming emails and about the required speed of re- sponse. Practices should en- sure their email is set up cor- rectly. It should identify the sender, display the subject matter in the ‘subject’ bar and signatures should provide the information legally required for business emails. The patient experience is built up on many levels. Most dental teams under- stand the influence of face to face communications. If they can raise the standard of their written communication skills up to the level of their face to face communications, dental teams will make pro- gress in building lasting re- spectful relationships with their patients. These communication top- ics are covered in my new dental reception course Pure- ly Practical Reception Skills Please email glenys@glenys- bridges.co.uk for details . DT Communication through letters can set the tone between patients and practice 15Practice ManagementOctober 29 - November 4, 2012United Kingdom Edition ‘Correspondence with patients will include new patient letters to introduce the practice; these letters provide important opportunities to set the tone of the relation- ship between the practice and the patients’ About the author Glenys Bridges is an independent dental team trainer. She can be con- tacted at glenys.bridges@gmail.com