Ian Eslick reflects on his journey from practice manager to business development consultant at DPAS as he marks 20 years with the company…
I began working in dentistry in the early nineties as a business manager. At the time I just answered an advert without knowing it was for a dental practice, but I enjoy all the aspects of running a business, particularly finance and administration – so I went for it.
I joined them in 1994, and I can still remember the first practice meeting. The hygienist had put ‘perio’ as an agenda item, and I had to ask what it was as I had no clinical background. Once it was explained to me, I started asking questions such as why it was costed that way, how it was promoted, why the treatment programme was put together the way it was, etc.
That has been my strongest skill, and the thing I still get most enjoyment from, throughout my time working with dentists: looking at the business side that often falls outside of the clinical team’s remit and helping to build the practice, allowing dentists to concentrate on caring for patients.
I also put my love of everything financial to good use as the treasurer of the British Dental Practice Managers’ Association (the organisation that preceded ADAM) during this time.
While I was working at the practice, we became the first member of DPAS, which is how I came to know the company. Following a practice partnership change, I joined DPAS in 1999 in a role that saw me travelling all around the country helping other practices to become members.
I’m now the Business Development Consultant for the south west, and my beloved Cornwall, but I think over the years I must have driven close to one million miles and carried out 20,000 visits to practices (being a dedicated number-cruncher, I have worked this out!).
From those early days to now, my focus has always been on building great relationships based on trust. I’m genuinely interested in listening to dentists tell me about their business, what’s happening locally, staffing issues, etc, and giving them appropriate advice, support and ideas.
I’ve seen DPAS transform from an initial entrepreneurial business to its current status as a major dental payment plan company in the UK and Ireland.
Perhaps I’ve been really lucky that I’ve only really been in one dental sector – payment plans, for 20 years. It means that I know the potential concerns of dentists and how to mitigate them, and the benefits of plans (both for patients and dentists) inside and out.
It’s now such an historic business model but reflects that dentistry is still, underneath all the clinical aspects, a business that has to be profitable, compliant and a great place to work in.
Compliance, as I’m sure anyone who has worked in the profession for a long time will agree, has probably been the biggest change over the years. We’ve had the introduction of the CQC and regulations such as GDPR. To be a manager in a dental practice now, you really need to be compliance-orientated.
There’s much more to contend with in terms of employment law, which is also constantly shifting, such as welfare, working hours, working time directive, etc.
A more welcome change has been the growing focus on the patient journey. More practices now understand the importance of serving their patients well, not just clinically, from the moment they make contact, to post-treatment aftercare.
The key to this is delegation. As the role of practice or business manager has become increasingly popular, alongside treatment coordinators, there is more scope than ever before for dentists to delegate the non-clinical aspects to their team. This allows all members of the team to play to their strengths for the good of the practice.
One thing that has remained the same, however, is the need to stay on top of the financial side of the business. From my first days in practice and ever since, it’s been clear that the majority of clinicians are, understandably, far more interested in the clinical dentistry and treating patients than running the numbers.
While it’s understandable, it is absolutely fundamental to keeping your practice viable and successful to always have one eye on the figures and track your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
Often, if I asked a dentist what their hourly rate would be, they wouldn’t know. That same thing wouldn’t happen with a plumber or an electrician. But there’s always been a sense that it’s not appropriate to think or talk about money when it comes to working in healthcare.
But you do need to think about these things to make sure your costs and income are stacking up. The financial element of the business needs to make sense in order for you to continue offering the best service possible, be sustainable as a practice and meet your patients’ needs long-term.
Many of the practices I first worked with after joining DPAS, are still members today. I love welcoming new dentists to DPAS, but spending two decades working with the same people and watching their business’ grow and thrive has also been incredibly rewarding.
Some of them are now looking towards retirement and I have gone from helping them to implement membership plans and supporting them to grow their plans, to now working with them to get their finances in order as they look to sell their practice and retire.
Having said that, I have no plans to retire just yet – here’s to the next 20 years!
