Coach Barrow

Dear coach

What do I do about seeing children? Bless their little cotton socks – I love them, of course, but seeing them professionally in my general practice drives me (and the team) bonkers sometimes – and getting paid so little for looking after them doesn’t help.

I understand my professional obligation to the community and their kids – but do you have any tips or examples from your client base as to how best to cope?

Dear dentist

I have a few ideas for you – but before that, imagine if you will that we establish a “focus group” to identify the worst time of day that we could welcome children into a general dental practice.

Let’s choose a time when:

1. the children themselves are hyper-active and sugar deficient;
2. they are likely to bring their siblings with them and in a similar condition – not to see the dental team but to de-construct your reception area;
3. their parents are stressed;
4. the parking is difficult;
5. the traffic is awful;
6. other patients will be irritated;
7. you are clinically tired;
8. your team are tired and at the end of their tether.

So – how’s about 3.30pm to 5.00pm weekdays? Do you think that would work?

It does seem very odd that this plan is the one adopted by many practices. So maybe it’s time to re-think? With this in mind, let me share a couple of systems that my clients have used.

Before I do so, can I make some assumptions?

1. that you would only see the children of adults who were active patients of the practice – why would you see them otherwise?
2. that genuine emergencies would still be seen at a time designated by you to handle them.

1. The Children’s Day (NHS, mixed or private practice)

This is a full day, set aside for the treatment of children. The dentist is doing routine examinations (and any major treatment would be re-booked for a later date). The hygienist may be acting as a dental health educator for the day.

The reception has been changed into a play area – with everything from Lego to PlayStations and children’s video’s.

The parents are advised that there will be one of these days in every mid-term school holiday, two in every full-term break.

When this has been done, the response from most parents has been very positive. Some practices have even had local media along to feature the event.

The job is over and done with in one go – and you can return to normal the next day.

2. The decision to “go private” with the children

The language to the parents would be along the lines of:

“Can I assume that you would want your child to receive the same quality of customer service that we offer to you?”

Remember the BDA response to the following question:

What can I expect to get for the extra money I am paying to my private dentist?

• Time spent during consultations and treatment to provide a personal service.
• A wide choice and range of treatments.
• Continuity of care with a dentist of your choice.
• A service more closely tailored to individual needs.
• Shorter waiting times.
• Time spent on advising how to best look after your teeth and prevent future problems.

Source: www.bda-dentistry.org.uk

“We have decided as a practice to offer this level of care and service to our children as well as their parents.”

Provided you can back this statement up in reality – then why not? It then simply becomes a question of calculating the correct hourly rate and price list for treatment to ensure the profitable health of your own business.

You may even want to offer a childrens’ version of your patient membership scheme.

You can also specify special times at which the children are seen as in the first example.

Time to stop tolerating this situation and start taking positive action that will benefit the child, the parent, your other patients, your team and yourself.

Example letter:

Dear parent

We feel it is important to continuously improve the quality of care and customer service that we offer all of our patients.

It is increasingly obvious that the demand for after school appointments for children is becoming greater.� This has produced a long waiting list for these times which may have a detrimental effect on the oral health of this important age group of patients.

We are also aware that it is becoming more difficult for these patients to attend because of the increased commitments from school work or for parents to take time off work to bring their children for appointments.

For the convenience of our patients we would like to introduce days when we will concentrate on your children’s routine examinations.� It is hoped that these appointments will coincide with the most common school holiday periods when most children will be off school.

During the appointment we will carry out a routine examination only and if treatment is required a further appointment will be arranged.� These appointments would not be suitable if you know that the child needs treatment or has pain as there may not be time allocated to care for the patient as we would normally do.

If you feel that these arrangements would be convenient please telephone the practice to arrange a check-up appointment at one of the future children days which will be during the Easter school holidays (at most of the local schools) 11 April – 13 April 2006.

Government regulation limits registration for NHS dental treatment to 15 months.� It is therefore important that children and adults re-register every 15 months if you wish to retain your registration for NHS treatment.

Yours Sincerely
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