At the start of lockdown, the leadership team at Chapel Street Dental & Implant Centre decided to seize the opportunity to implement some big changes at the practice.
They revolutionised the way they structure their plan fees and moved to membership only, and the numbers of patients on plan are steadily increasing. They have also recently doubled their appointment times.
I spoke to Practice Manager Sakina Morris to find out more about what they did, why they did it and how it has gone so far…
Kat: Can you share the big changes you’ve made during the past few months to the way your plan works?
Sakina: I joined the practice last year from a non-dental background and since then I’ve been looking at ways to improve it with the perspective of someone from retail. For example, we’ve changed the appointment times from 10 minutes to a minimum of 20 minutes, or half an hour for hygiene appointments. And we’ve been looking at ways to really make plan patients feel special.
On the 23rd March, we had to send all the team home due to lockdown, and we made the decision then that we were going to use this time as a platform to change the practice.
We had already been talking about moving to a membership-only practice with you, Kat, and Michelle Hardy before lockdown. But we also decided to move from patients paying fee-per-item, to them paying for the amount of time they spent with the clinician.
It was a bit of a gamble because we have plan members who are used to paying their monthly fee and receiving four appointments a year, and now we were telling them they would pay a nominal fee for the plan and then pay us when they attended their appointment, based on how long it took.
Kat: How have patients reacted to the changes you’ve made?
Sakina: Since we introduced this new way of working, we have only lost three patients out of more than 500.
When people understand what they receive for the money they’re paying – a virtual consultation the day before, a full exam with the dentist, any treatment they need at a discounted rate, a hand scale and polish, a follow-up call the next day – they realise that it is still really good value for money.
One of our patients recently attended the practice and needed two fillings, and it was less expensive for him to have that treatment under this new way of working.
I think patients have been really appreciative of the way we operated during lockdown. We triaged 170 emergencies and we made it clear we would see anyone who had an emergency, whether they were a member or not.
We have a lovely garden at the practice and we had a box in it that contained cement kits and emergency kits so that patients could come in and safely pick them up free of charge.
Doing all these things for patients, new and existing, has been well received and really proved that we are a genuine, caring practice.
Kat: How do you feel about the support you had during this time?
Sakina: We had to change our marketing materials, such as brochures and leaflets, we’ve introduced a new brand for our colour, and we’ve had amazing support from DPAS to make all of these big changes.
You’ve been really amazing Kat, I couldn’t have asked for more support, you’ve really gone above and beyond to help us. As well, Kate, and the other people I’ve spoken to in DPAS Customer Services during lockdown, have been so helpful. I don’t know how we would have done it without DPAS!
And the general support during lockdown was great, such as the practice manager WhatsApp group that we had, the regular virtual calls and the weekly emails with all the updates and information from your COVID-19 Resource Centre.
Kat: What are the next steps for the practice?
Sakina: When we introduced the new way of working, the nominal fee for the plan was reduced. So, we knew we would need to grow the numbers joining the plan and we have a target of reaching 1,000.
More than 500 patients have already moved over from the existing plan and in the past couple of weeks we have had more than 20 new patients sign up every week.
The dentistry that was being done before lockdown has gone, and I don’t think it will be coming back, nor do I think that it should.
The future is all about creating more value for the patient, and the more time they spend with their dentist, the more likely they are to completely immerse themselves in the experience. If you practise great care, you’ll be rewarded with great people and great loyalty.
We’ll still be evolving the way we work as lockdown restrictions continue to ease and we begin moving back towards routine appointments, etc. Like a lot of practices, we’re taking it day by day and adapting as we need to – but I’m lucky I have you to help me get through it!
Kat: Thank you so much Sakina. I’m looking forward to being there with you for the next chapter in Chapel Street’s changing story.
Don’t forget our BDCs are here to support you with any changes you might be considering making to your practice or your plan. You can contact them directly or call our head office on: 01747 870910 or email enquiries@dpas.co.uk
