7 steps to better diary management in private dentistry

1. 4. Grade patients

1.1. Grade by clinical care required

1.2. Grade by behaviour

1.3. Grade by periodicity of treatment

1.4. Teach your patients that they are members of the practice and not "owned" by clinicians (the three-story building metaphor)

2. 5. Introduce new patient-only sessions

2.1. Set aside sessions where you only see new patients

2.2. Establish teamwork between reception/TCO/clincians

2.3. Ensure that the TCO triages effectively to clinicians

2.4. Celebrate your successes every week

3. 6. Deal effectively with emergencies

3.1. Allocate fixed times

3.2. Add in any gaps in the daily book

3.3. Define emergencies as "genuine"

4. 7. Introduce Childrens' Days

4.1. Allocate Children only days in the diary

4.2. 1 per half-term holiday

4.3. 2 per full-term holiday

4.4. All team in themed fancy dress and the practice decorated

4.5. Use as a PR exercise

4.6. Broadcast over social media

4.7. Have fun

5. 1. Introduce Dental Health Reviews

5.1. Train the whole team on the "hygiene pop-in" culture and system

5.2. Visit another practice to see how it is done

5.3. Give the patients 6 months notice

6. 2. Zone the book

6.1. Cap your clinical hours per week at 28

6.2. Allocate 7 hours per week to leadership & management

6.3. Take 8 weeks minimum holiday per year

6.4. Zone the week's sessions by quantity and quality of dentistry delivered - don't mix and match - do your best work at your best time

6.5. Never be afraid of a waiting list

7. 3. Re-skill your therapist

7.1. Ban scalers from dentists' surgeries

7.2. Hand over routine fillings to your therapist

7.3. Hand over tooth whitening to your hygiene/therapy team