Dental nurses are often involved in many aspects of running a practice, whether it is on the frontline assisting dentists, maintaining patient records, ordering stock, costing, and developing rapport with patients. These strong organisational skills make dental nurses a strong candidate to open and run their own practices. Have you ever thought to yourself?-'I could run this practice on my own!' Well since GDC registration was introduced this has certainly made it possible for dental nurses.
Dental Nurses setup their own practice
Tina Wilson and Leanne Martin, both dental nurses, set up their own practice in Lincoln. They saw a definite need for a dental clinic in their local area with a growing population. It is very important to carry out research in identifying local needs. The Duo decided to opt for a pay- as -you go payment scheme rather than going for a private payment plans. The dynamic nurses created a business plan using in-depth research, which helped them to successfully secure the loan they needed from the bank. Leanne says that many people did not take them seriously, but they soon proved them wrong. The practice has been open just over a year and has 1600+ new patients. The practice has since expanded and now employees 4 full time staff, and two part-time. Considering the current climate this is a great success. Leanne's advice to all budding dental nurse entrepreneurs: " The main challenges we faced was in the building works and it was a massive learning curve for us both, but fortunately all turned out well. We would both recommend any nurse to go for it if they have the ambition to do so. It has been worth all the hard work and sleepless nights but it's a huge commitment and not a 9-5 job, it continues when you get home. The key is to find the right balance and I think Tina and I are nearly there! The advice I would give to any dental nurses wanting to do this themselves would be that they need to have good knowledge and understanding of all employment law issues in addition to all practice policies and procedures to be in place and to keep up to date with these. You also need to have good people management skills, in addition to leadership skills, promoting staff performance and staff morale."
Step-by-step plan to help get you started opening your own dental practice:
1) Create a business plan. The following link will help you with your business start-up http://online.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/getStarted?r.s=sl&r.lc=en
2) Once you have come up with a name for the practice you will need to write to the GDC and get approval.
3) Decide whether or not you want an NHS or Private practice. If you choose NHS you will need to decide on the location and contact the local Primary Care Trust (PCT). The PCT will be able to tell you if there is funding available for dentistry in that area.
4) Take your business plan and alot of enthusiasm and determination to your bank manager. Be prepared for rejection. If your bank manager is not able to help you, go to other banks until you get a YES. It will be in your favour if you have savings or funds of your own that you can invest into the business.
5) Location, location, location. This is key! Choose an area where there will be alot of people walking past.
6) Website: You need a fantastic website. Most people search the internet for a dentist, so this must be perfect. It is worth the investment. Choose appropriate google add words. Google favours words over pictures so dont saturate your site with too many pictures.
7) Consider investing in a company that specialises in Search Engine Optimization- a fancy term but basically means improving the volume and or quality of traffic to your website. Targeting the right people and getting your website ranked higher on the google search page. Go with a company with a proven track record. You could look into sites that rank at the top and ask them who they use. Obviously go with a non- dental website otherwise they are unlikely to give you these details.
