Nigel Jones, Sales and Marketing Director at Practice plan, is joined by John Renshaw, Director at Oral Care Consulting and former BDA Chair, to look back at the history of NHS dentistry and discuss what the future might hold.

What you’ll hear:

• John's background in dentistry and experience of moving to private
• Reflections on NHS dentistry over the years
• Thoughts on past and present Labour governments
• Workforce and Integrated care board issues
• Future predictions.

Fern Jackson from Practice Plan is joined by Natalie Bradley, Chair of the BDA Young Dentist Committee, to share her advice for young dentists and steps to take to prepare for the profession.

What you’ll hear:

• Introduction to Natalie
• Be aware of information being shared on social media
• Challenge preconceptions
• Different career paths
• Specific challenges for young dentists
• Work/life balance and having boundaries
• Thoughts for the future.

To find out more about Natalie visit http://www.atoothgerm.co.uk/

Hazel Dockery from Practice Plan chats to Business and CSR Coach, Mark Topley, about his new online course, Go Practice Green, aimed at helping your dental practice to become more sustainable.

What you’ll hear:

• The benefits of going green
• Barriers to sustainability in dentistry
• Reducing carbonfootprint
• Starting with small changes
• Details about the course

To find out more visit: https://gopracticegreen.com/

Les Jones, Creative Director at Practice Plan Group catches up with Chris Barrow to look at the current dental landscape and share their thoughts and predictions for the future.

What you’ll hear:

• What does the current landscape look like?
• Thoughts on general election and a potential new government
• The main challenges practices are facing currently
• Opportunities practices should be looking at/implementing
• Ai and how this will this play a part in dentistry
• Thoughts for the future.

In this episode, brought to you by Wesleyan Financial Services, Monica Pacult talks to Wesleyan Financial Services Specialist Financial Adviser Morna Beattie about what life’s like for NHS Dentists and their finances in Scotland.

They cover the various tax bands in Scotland, the importance of financial planning and some of the main topics dentists are contacting us to talk about.

Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may be subject to change in future. Bear in mind that the value of investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invest.

Wesleyan Financial Services Ltd (Registered in England and Wales No. 1651212) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered Office: Colmore Circus, Birmingham B4 6AR. Telephone: 0345 351 2352. Calls may be recorded to help us provide, monitor and improve our services to you. Calls may be recorded to help us provide, monitor and improve our services to you.

In this latest episode of Bodcast we are joined by Richard Jones, Clinical Lead and National Coordinator at the Dentists Health Support Trust to talk about the organisation and the support they can offer to dental professionals.

What you’ll hear:

• How the trust was founded and what the service provides
• Different factors that could contribute to a mental health crisis in dentistry
• How many calls they receive in an average month
• What happens once someone gets in touch and the support they can expect 
• Tips dental professionals can implement to look after their own mental health
• Advice for anyone struggling with their mental health and apprehensive about using this helpline

For more information and to get in touch with the trust visit

https://www.dentistshealthsupporttrust.org/

Nigel Jones, Sales and Marketing Director at Practice Plan Group discusses the Government's Dental Recovery Plan with Lauren Harrhy, Principal Dentist and BDA Principal executive committee member.

What you'll hear:

• What does the plan really mean?
• Changes in minimum UDA value
• Rising costs for practices
• Recruiting overseas dentists
• Patients' perceptions of NHS and private dentistry
• Hopes for the future

About Lauren:

Lauren Harrhy is Principal Dentist and owner of Sparkle Dental Centre. Her focus for the past few years has been on helping to maintain the mental health of dental professionals. She is a founding member and current trustee of Confidental, a helpline providing emotional first aid and signposting to dentists in crisis. In addition to Co- chairing its Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, she is also on various other BDA committees as a representative.

Lucie Simic, Dental business consultant, shares her tips for attracting top talent to your dental practice team.

What you'll hear:

• The importance of having the right team members
• Recruitment issues and the current dental landscape
• Setting the culture and vision for your practice
• Optimising your staff environment and facilities
• Social media and your website
• Understanding your practice personality.

Who should listen:

• Practice Managers
• Practice Owners.

Joanne Phillpott, Regional Support Manager at Practice Plan is joined by Dr. Vivak Shah, Dentist and Practice Owner and his children Arjun, 12, and Aryan, 10 to talk about their recent charity trip to Mozambique where they provided dental care for thousands of patients.

What you’ll hear:

• An overview of the trip and the reasons for going
• An example of what a typical day looked like
• Stand out moments
• How other dentists can get involved.

To find out more information visit https://www.smilestarcharity.com/

Hussein Hassanali, Associate Dentist at Woodthorpe Dental Centre is joined by Dr Ritesh Aggarwal, Dentist and CEO at Psynergy Mental health to talk about the wellbeing of your associate dentists and share their advice on keeping them happy and engaged.

What you’ll hear:

• Getting associates more involved with the wider team
• Creating a sense of belonging and open culture
• Utilising skills and strengths 
• Dealing with micromanaging 
• Clinical autonomy
• Associates investing in themselves.

Who should listen:

• Practice managers
• Practice owners
• Associate dentists.

Hussein graduated from the University of Liverpool in 2009 and completed his PG Dip in Restorative Dentistry in 2020 which granted Fellowship of BAARID. He is an Associate Dentist in York with a special interest in ultrasonic restorative dentistry. He has a broad range of experience, having worked in both NHS and private, and both corporate and independent practices. To date, he has over 20 publications to his name, and continues to support the profession through his regular contributions, as well as being on the BDJ Reader Panel and an Editorial Advisory Board Member of Young Dentist Magazine.

Dr. Ritesh Aggarwal is a practicing Dentist, Practice Principal and the CEO of Psynergy Mental Health. He has been working within the mental health industry since 2017 and has a strong drive and determination to improve mental health for all. Ritesh wants to improve the dental industry by implementing Psynergy programmes via their digital platform to measure the mental health and wellbeing culture of dental practices, creating action plans for improvement and inspiring positive, long term behaviour change for the benefit of all with the practice. Psynergy is currently trying to shift the paradigm of mental health to a more preventative approach, similar to dentistry, and is working closely with NHS research teams to achieve this. To find out more visit https://www.psynergymentalhealth.com/

In this edition, Iain Stevenson, Wesleyan Financial Services Head of Dental, talks to Steve O’Connor, Associate Director of Christie & Co, a specialist business property adviser to dental professionals.

They discuss Christie & Co’s recently published Business Outlook and what it means for dentists and their business and personal finances.

This podcast is for information only and doesn’t provide either financial or business advice.

You can find out more about Wesleyan at www.wesleyan.co.uk and listen and subscribe to The Wesleyan Podcast at:

• Apple
• Spotify
• Amazon / Audible
• Podbean

Wesleyan Financial Services Ltd (Registered in England and Wales No. 1651212) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered Office: Colmore Circus, Birmingham B4 6AR. Telephone: 0345 351 2352. Calls may be recorded to help us provide, monitor and improve our services to you. Calls may be recorded to help us provide, monitor and improve our services to you.

To find out more about the Business Outlook visit: https://www.christie.com/business-outlook-2024/

Les Jones, Creative Director at Practice Plan is joined by Kevin Rose, Dental business coach at Rose & Co. Kevin shares his philosophy of developing dental practices by emphasising both human touch and digital results.

What you'll hear:

• How Rose & Co was established
• Building trust with patients, encouraging self-thinking teams, and prioritising patient care over purely clinical outcomes. 
• The difference their approach has made to the practices they've worked with.

To learn more about Kevin and his work at Rose & Co., visit www.roseand.co/

Hazel Dockery catches up with Fiona Ellwood BEM, Executive Director at the Society of British Dental Nurses, to discuss recent research on inappropriate and unwanted behaviour in dentistry.

What you’ll hear:

• Summary of the findings from research
• Examples of inappropriate behaviour
• Fiona’s personal experience working in practice
• Standing up and feeling safe to go to work.

To find out more visit: https://sbdn.org.uk/speaking-up-and-listening-up/

Hazel Dockery from Practice Plan is joined by Dr Amit Jilka, Practice Owner at Abbey House Dental to talk about his experience running both an NHS and private practice.

What you'll hear:

• Amit's journey towards private dentistry
• The benefits to patients, team and practice from offering both services
• Advice for those contemplating introducing private dentistry into their practice.

 

Zoe Close, Head of Sales at Practice Plan Group catches up once again with Mike Hesketh, Founder and CEO at Hesketh Healthcare. This time they talk about his dental consultancy work and delve deeper into the system of success that has proven results for the practices he works with.

What you'll hear:

• How Mike started his dental consultancy
• The systems for success
• What sort of practice would benefit from the consultancy
• Stand out examples of the difference its made to practices.

To find out more visit https://www.heskethhealthcare.co.uk/dental-consultancy

Hazel Dockery catches up with Gemma Starkey, Social media consultant also known as 'Miss Social'. Gemma shares her hints on how to get started with social media and discusses its impact and relevance for dental practices.

What you'll hear:

• Gemmas journey from dental nurse to social media guru
• The importance of social media in the current digital age
• Having a mix of educational, personal, and relatable content
• Using algorithms and different social media platforms to achieve better reach and engagement
• The benefits of having a social media content calendar.

To find out more visit https://www.misssocial.co.uk/

In this latest episode of Bodcast, Fern from Practice Plan catches up with Neil Stephen, CEO of Dengro, to delve deeper into the company's CRM software and how best to utilise reports and data captured.

What you'll hear:

• What do the reports on the CRM system tell us?
• Where do the best leads come from?
• The benefits of having the data for a dental practice
• Examples of how practices utilise the data.

Who should listen:

Practice Managers

Practice Owners.

For more details, visit dengro.com and book your live demo today.

In this episode, Monica Pacult talks to Rebecca Johnson, a Specialist Financial Planner at Wesleyan Financial Services.

They cover the importance of business agreements for dentists and how they improve business continuity, resolving disputes and overall planning for the future, as well as touching upon legacy planning and how it impacts the individuals personally.

This podcast is for information only and doesn’t provide either financial or business advice. You can find out more about Wesleyan at www.wesleyan.co.uk.

Zoe Close, Head of Sales at Practice Plan Group is joined by Mike Hesketh, Founder and CEO at Hesketh Healthcare, to talk about the rapid growth and sale of his first dental practice and purchase of his second, as well as the four pillars that helped him achieve it.

What you'll hear:

• Introduction to Mike
• The decision to purchase Exeter dental practice
• The four business pillars that helped Mike grow the practice
• Stepping away from clinical work
• Lessons learnt along the way                                                           
• Advice to anyone thinking of buying a practice at the moment.

To find out more visit https://www.heskethhealthcare.co.uk/

Hazel Dockery is joined by Emilia Forrester, Multi-Award winning dental nurse, who shares her top tips for creating and maintaining a happy and motivated team.

What you'll hear:

• How Emilia got into dental nursing and consultancy 
• Qualities and attributes that make a good dental nurse
• How to keep teams happy and motivated
• The importance of communication. 

About Emilia

Emilia Forrester, a distinguished dental nurse, is fuelled by an unwavering passion for her profession, which has propelled her to remarkable heights in her career. Her exceptional dedication and commitment to dental nursing culminated in her receiving prestigious accolades, including the titles of Best Dental Nurse for both 2021 and 2022, and Best Team Member in 2021.

Zoe Close, Head of Sales at Practice Plan catches up with Lisa Bainham, Practice Manager at The Old Surgery dental practice to talk about menopause, how it affects them and how to support women going through it.

What you'll hear:

• Why don't we talk more about the menopause?
• Is there a need for both men and women to become more educated about the emotional and physical aspects of the menopause?
• What role should work play in supporting women going through the menopause?
• How is the menopause perceived in today’s society? What can we do to encourage more of an open conversation at work around the topic?
• Any advice for anyone struggling with the menopause?

Katrina James, Area Manager at Practice Plan, shares her top tips for your business and things to think about for 2024.

What you’ll hear:

• Reflect on the past year
• Evaluate what’s gone well/what’s been a challenge
• What are your business goals?
• Prioritise your team.

Who should listen:

• Practice Owners
• Practice Managers.

Hazel Dockery at Practice Plan catches up with Mark Topley, CSR and Business coach, to talk about vulnerability in the workplace and the benefits of creating an open culture.

What you’ll hear:

• What is vulnerability?
• The importance of creating a safe space and an open culture
• Communication
• Not being afraid to make mistakes or ask for help.

To find out more visit https://marktopley.co.uk/

Hazel Dockery at Practice Plan catches up with Shaenna Loughnane, Chief Executive of Bridge2aid, to talk about the growth of the charity and their recent projects in Tanzania and Malawi.

What you’ll hear:

• How the charity has evolved and changed over time
• Current projects
• Focusing on localisation and working with the Ministry of Health
• Training dental therapists and promoting oral health messages
• How can people get involved and support.

To find out more visit: https://bridge2aid.org/

Nigel Jones, Sales and Marketing Director at Practice Plan Group is joined by Steve O’Connor, Associate Director at Christie & Co, to discuss the key findings from their dental market report 2023.

What you’ll hear:

• General overview of 2023
• Interest rates and cost of living crisis effects
• Groups and corporates
• Rising costs for NHS practices vs private
• Workforce issues and growth in private practice.

Who should listen:

• Practice Owners
• Dentists
• Practice Managers.

Listen in to our latest podcast with Simon Cosgrove, Dental Specialist Financial Adviser at Wesleyan Financial Services, where we talk about the pros and cons of pension switching and consolidation for dentists.

Bear in mind that the value of investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invest. This podcast is for information only and isn’t financial or legal advice.

Please note: Specialist Financial Advisers referred to throughout the podcast are part of Wesleyan Financial Services

You can find out more about Wesleyan at www.wesleyan.co.uk 

Practice Plan Limited is an introducer appointed representative of Wesleyan Financial Services Limited. Practice Plan Limited (Registered in England and Wales No. 03089948). Registered office: Cambrian Works, Gobowen Road, Oswestry, Shropshire, SY11 1HS Telephone number: 01691 684120. Website: www.practiceplan.co.uk.

‘WESLEYAN’ is a trading name of the Wesleyan Group of companies. Wesleyan Financial Services Ltd (Registered in England and Wales No. 1651212) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered Office: Colmore Circus, Birmingham, B4 6AR. Telephone: 0345 351 2352. Calls may be recorded to help us provide, monitor and improve our services to you.

Hussein Hassanali, Associate Dentist at Woodthorpe Dental Centre is joined by Jo Clarke, Founder and Director of Petros to talk about resilience, being less stressed and getting in the zone for dentistry.

What you’ll hear:

• What cortisol is and how it can affect people
• What resilience is and how naturally it comes to some of us
• How to be more resilient
• What rumination is
• Benefits of running commentary with patients
• Importance of detachment and letting go
• Not taking things personally.

For more information on Petros resilience training visit https://petros.org.uk/

Michelle Hardy, Sales Support Manager at Practice Plan answers some of the common questions and barriers to converting from NHS to private practice.

What you’ll hear:

Barriers including

• Losing patients
• Reaction from local press
• Will team resist change?
• What will happen to NHS pension?
• Local health board response
• Feeling guilty about leaving NHS
• "Am I good enough to be a private dentist?"

Who should listen:

• Practice owners
• Practice managers
• Dentists

Next up in our ask the experts series we catch up with Sarah Barnard, Regional Support Manager at Practice Plan, who shares different ways for paying your associate dentists with plan membership income.

What you'll hear:

• Importance of finding the right method for your business
• Different calculation methods
• Pros and cons of each one
• Calculator and guides available

Who should listen:

• Practice principals 

Neil Stephen, CEO of DenGro joins us in this latest podcast to talk about the CRM system specifically designed for dental practices, some of the benefits of using it and how good conversations can lead to conversions.

What you'll hear:

• When and why was DenGro started?
• How does the system work?
• How does this process lead to a good conversation?
• What are some of the benefits for a practice?

Who should listen:

• Practice Managers
• Practice Owners

To find our more visit https://dengro.com/

Michelle Hardy, Sales Support Manager at Practice Plan catches up with Fiona Ellwood BEM, Founder of Dental Mentoring Network to discuss the benefits of mentoring and how to get started.

What you'll hear:

• How Fiona first discovered mentoring
• What does mentoring mean?
• Where's the best place to start
• Stand out stories

Who should listen:

• All dental professionals

 

Les Jones, Creative Director at Practice Plan catches up with Hayley Irons, Director at HI Marketing Ltd to discuss the differences and benefits of utilising your dental team to manage your marketing or wether its more efficient to outsource to a marketing agency.

What you'll hear:

• How do you decide whether to use a team member or outsource
• If you use a team member, is it realistic for them to do it as part of their role, along with other duties, or should it be a standalone role?
• If you decide to outsource, how do you go about choosing the right agency/company
• What sort of return should you expect from your investment

Who should listen:

• Practice owners
• Practice managers

Zoe Close, Head of Sales at Practice Plan, is joined with Andy Acton, Director at Frank Taylor and Associates to talk about the benefits of setting up a squat practice and other things to consider when doing so.

What you'll hear:

• The differences of setting up a squat vs buying an existing practice
• The benefits
• Success rates are we seeing and interest post covid
• How to agree finance for a squat practice
• How to develop a squat practice
• Advice for dentists looking to do so

Who should listen:

• Practice Owners
• Dentists

Joanne Phoenix, Regional Support Manager at Practice Plan shares her experience of dealing with change and some tips on how to move through it.

What you'll hear:

• Joanne's experience of dealing with change
• Why are people scared of change
• The importance of being present and grounding yourself
• Getting support and the benefits of mentoring

Fern Jackson from Practice Plan is joined by Nicky Thackray, Founder at MyZendays to talk about managing stress and different coping mechanisms.

What you’ll hear:

• What is stress and how does it effect us? (mind and body)
• What are some different coping strategies?
• Why is self care important?
• Examples of different ways to practice self care

To find out more visit: https://myzendays.kartra.com/page/homepage

As dentists continue to explore their options outside of the NHS, one of the biggest considerations is what is needed to replace their NHS income.

In this podcast, Laura Whyte catches up with Katrina Rees, Area Manager at Practice Plan on what the process is and how practices should approach it.

This podcast is for information purposes and should not be taken as financial advice.

Please note that the Specialist Financial Advisers referred to throughout the podcast are part of Wesleyan Financial Services.

Nigel Jones, Sales and Marketing Director at Practice Plan Group is joined with Professor John Gibson, Founder of The Canmore trust to talk about suicide, the importance of recognising the signs and having open conversations about it.

What you'll here:

• Johns personal experience of suicide
• The effects of suicide on family and friends
• Having open conversations about suicide and asking difficult questions
• Signs to look out for if someone is struggling
• Healthcare workers facing microagression

To get in touch or for any support or resources visit https://thecanmoretrust.co.uk/

Les Jones, Creative Director at Practice Plan is joined with Hayley Irons, Director at HI Marketing Ltd to discuss all things marketing related, from where to start and what the average returns are.

What you'll hear:

• What is marketing and what are the benefits?
• Should you have a strategy or long term goal in place?
• How much budget should you allocate?
• Should marketing be done internally or outsourced?

Who should listen:

• Practice Managers
• Practice Owners
• Dental Nurses
• Receptionists

For more information from Hayley visit https://hayleyironsmarketing.co.uk/

Nigel Jones, Sales and Marketing Director at Practice Plan group is joined by Lis Hughes, Managing Director at Frank Taylors and Associates to discuss the current dental sales market, the effect on practice ownership and points to consider when buying or selling a practice.

What you'll hear:

• An update on the current dental landscape and sales market
• What are people looking to buy?
• Recruitment effects on NHS practice valuations
• Practice ownership and corporate group ownership
• Benefits of having a mixed practice

Who should listen:

• Practice Owners
• Dentists

Donna Hall, Regional Support Manager at Practice Plan shares her top tips on how to handle calls enquiring about NHS dental treatment and convert more patients on a private basis.

What you'll hear:

• Asking patients the right questions
• Take the time to find out their needs
• Build value - the benefits of private appointments and what’s included
• Leave the call on a good note

Who should listen:

• Receptionists
• Dental Nurses
• Practice Managers

Michelle Hardy, Sales Support Manager at Practice Plan catches up with Fiona Ellwood BEM, Executive Director at the Society of British Dental Nurses, to discuss the role of a dental nurse, the importance of them in your dental practice and different ways to support and up-skill.   What you'll hear:

• Fiona's journey as a dental nurse
• Importance of the dental nurse role
• Tips to support your dental nurses
• Opportunities for dental nurses to up-skill

Who should listen:

• Dental Nurses
• Practice Managers
• Practice Owners

In this weeks podcast, we are joined by Jo Clarke, Founder and Director at Petros - Resilience for life, who shares some top tips for dentists and practice teams to improve your resilience and wellbeing.

What you'll hear:

• Some of the challenges that dentists face and how these may affect their wellbeing
• Practical hints and tips to improve wellbeing
• The importance of optimism 

Who should listen:

• All dental professionals

Nigel Suggett, Dentist and Practice Owner at Seaham Smiles Dental Surgery, shares his journey on moving away from NHS dentistry and converting to private practice.

What you'll hear:

• Nigels reasons for wanting to move away from working under an NHS contract
• The difference its made in practice and to the team
• Why Nigel chose Practice Plan over other providers
• Life in practice now

Who should listen:

All dental professionals

Our latest podcast series "Ask the experts" introduces you to all of our Regional Support Managers who are highly experienced and hugely knowledgable about dentistry. 

To kick the series off we are joined with Amy Hansford, Regional Support Manager at Practice Plan for over 11 years and has 6 years experience working in a dental practice. She shares her top tips for increasing your word of mouth referrals from utilising your social channels to creating referral incentives.

What you'll hear:

• Importance of providing a remarkable patient journey
• Actually asking your patients for referrals
• Create a spread word the cards
• Have a referral incentive
• Utilise social channels
• Build relationships with influencers
• and more...

Who should listen:

All dental professionals

Jenny Page, Dentist and accredited member of the British Society of Clinical and academic hypnosis shares the benefits of using clinical hypnosis in dentistry and the difference it can make to the patient journey.

What you'll hear:

• What is clinical hypnosis
• How it works
• Some of the benefits
• More info about BSCAH and the courses they offer

Who should listen:

• Dentists

For more information visit https://bscah.co.uk/

Laura Hills from Practice Plan talks to Hannah Burrow and Jay Shah, Founders of Kiroku, about their AI dental notes system and the benefits of AI in dentistry.

What you’ll hear:

• How Kiroku started
• How the system works and its benefits
• Are people nervous of using AI tools?
• AI and the positive impact on dentistry.

To find out more visit https://www.trykiroku.com/

Les Jones, Creative Director at Practice Plan catches up with Chris Barrow, Dental Business Coach to discuss the current recruitment and retention problems in dentistry, how to recruit the best talent for your practice and what you should look for in a team member.

What you'll hear:

• How brexit, covid and cost of living crisis has effected dentistry
• What can practices do to retain their staff and attract new talent
• Where to look for in new recruits
• The ideal team player
• Thoughts for the future

Who should listen:

• All dental professionals

In this episode, Laura Whyte talks to Wesleyan Financial Services Specialist Financial Adviser Paul Barnfather about the 2023 Spring Budget and how the changes to Annual and Lifetime Allowances will impact those planning for retirement.

This podcast is for information purposes and should not be taken as financial advice.

Tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances of each client and may be subject to change in the future.

The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate Inheritance Tax Planning and Trusts.

You can find out more about Wesleyan at www.wesleyan.co.uk

Emma Anastasi, Founding Director of Diamond Dental Staff talks through the importance of having a marketing and social media strategy in place at your dental practice and shares ideas for the type of content you could be posting.

What you'll hear:

• Why you should have a strategy in place
• Content ideas
• How to get started

Who should listen:

All dental professionals

To find out more visit www.diamonddentalstaff.co.uk

Hazel Dockery at Practice Plan is joined with Dave Smithson, Operations Director at Anxiety UK, a national charity to help those suffering with anxiety to shed more light on the disorder and ways to manage it.

What you'll hear:

•  What is anxiety?
• Are certain people more vulnerable to suffering from anxiety or can it affect anyone?
• Best ways to help someone who suffers with anxiety
• The Anxiety UK charity and how people can get in touch

Suitable for all listeners

To find out more about the charity visit https://www.anxietyuk.org.uk/