Happy or sad in the NHS? It’s a choice.

This evening I’ll be in York, speaking at a North Yorkshire LDC meeting on the subject of “Delivering clinical care and customer service in a 21st Century environment.” Ian Gordon tells me that sign-ups have been good and, although one can never predict, it may be a full room later today.

Many of my clients have converted from NHS to private practice over the years and it’s a journey with which I’m very familiar.

However, this evening is an opportunity to remind the audience that in my 22 years on the dental landscape, I’ve never advocated “leaving the NHS” as the only solution to creating a successful business and that I’ve worked (and continue to work) with clients who operate full NHS and mixed practices.

It would be 1998 that I first accompanied a client through a private conversion and, looking back, the reasons for that conversion would stand up to scrutiny under a 2018 spotlight. It wasn’t about making more money (I genuinely don’t believe it ever is). It was about creating a more enjoyable work experience for the owners, the team and the patients.

Which raises an interesting point – because I know many a dental practice owner who has stayed within the NHS structure and yet decided to do the same.

That’s what I want to talk about tonight – how exactly do you create a better experience for all concerned, whilst staying in the NHS?

I do earnestly believe that there are answers and I’ll be sharing them at The Principal Hotel, right outside York Station, this evening.

Delivering clinical care and customer service in a 21st Century environment Back in 2004, a dentist’s son and student at Harvard University called Mark Zukerberg changed the way we communicate when he launched Facebook. In 2007, Steve Jobs did the same with the first iPhone. Wherever we live, whatever age and whatever we do, in just 14 years, the digital age has made things radically different. That impacts clinical dentistry and the way we deliver our patient experience in ways that could not have been imagined even at the Millennium. It also creates opportunity for those who are far-sighted enough. Chris Barrow spends his entire business life working with successful dental practices at home and abroad and, after 22 years, has a unique experience and perspective on “best practice” in both NHS and independent sectors. One of his proud claims is that he has never said “go private” or “leave the NHS” as part of his marketing or his message. Rather, he works with clients in every sector of the dental landscape and is focused on that which makes each sector profitable and enjoyable for owners, teams and patients. Can NHS dentists be happy? Chris believes they can and will share with us the top strategies and tactics that his clients are using in this modern world of ours.