There is no escaping the digital age of dentistry, and very little reason to want to. By turning conventional, hands-on workflows into electronically driven approaches, clinicians can find new advantages in saving time and improving control over the practice.
The UK has a unique structure for dental care provision, with private and NHS dentistry often intersecting under the same roof. When choosing a practice management system, it’s important to recognise what a clinician will need from it considering these two aspects. Then one can begin to identify the solutions that improve the team’s workflows, no matter the type of dentistry provided.
NHS and UDA monitoring
Working in NHS dentistry can be hectic. Appointment demand is still high – a 2024 report found just three per cent of patients who tried to get an NHS dental appointment in the previous two years had been successful – and so a practice management software needs to simplify organisation.
It is important for NHS clinicians to be able to effectively track their units of dental activity (UDA) contributions, and ensure they are set to meet their committed contract activity. Individual clinicians will find it helpful to track their own progress as the weeks and months pass, ensuring they are on course to meet or exceed their targets too.
The standard general dental services contract laid out by NHS England notes that if a practice provides services under the contract from April 1 in the relevant financial year, they may need a mid-year review to assess the quantity of UDAs provided up until that point. This is necessary if the designated ‘commissioner’ observes less than 30 per cent of the UDA target has been met between April 1 and September 30.
A centralised practice management software can ensure that these numbers are recorded accurately, and accessed at a moment’s notice. This would give clinicians the ability to identify and correct problems long before a commissioner intervenes.
Business management
Keeping abreast of the financial aspects of your dental practice is especially vital. Monitoring your income and outgoings is imperative when considering changes to the way your practice is run, whether you can expand according to demand, or even realise new opportunities that can be taken.
Financial viability is a common stressor for dental professionals, and exercising control is a way to tackle it effectively. A practice management system could be optimised to display key metrics in one spot, another advantage over more conventional workflows that require speaking to accountants and diving into the practice’s books to gain a full picture.
This is, of course, an advantage for NHS practices, but also for those that rely heavily on the income generated from private treatment or membership subscriptions. Being able to access key financial insights in an instant is always extremely useful.
For clinicians managing multiple practices, it can be particularly beneficial to implement a cloud-based solution. This means essential financial information can be accessed at multiple locations, without needing to be directly linked to a specific practice’s internal system, and insights throughout a group of dental providers can be collated to make effective changes that are fully informed.
Time savers
Streamlining how practices track UDAs or preside over their current financial situation is not only beneficial because it can prompt immediate changes to the practice. A digitised and centralised software may also help save clinicians and their teams an abundance of time. Increasing efficiency was ranked the leading reason for using digital technologies in a dental practice in a 2019 report, exemplifying the desire from professionals to achieve more in the day.
The right software will also optimise experiences for patients, as it can offer the ability for appointment scheduling to be completed through a practice website. This is preferred by both patients and practitioners who are more digitally inclined, whilst also removing the need for cumbersome administrative procedures to be carried out by staff. The time saved can be better focused on different aspects of the patient experience, and the literature notes that it is a primary motivator behind dentists adopting digital solutions throughout their practice.
Choosing the right practice management software to meet your needs is essential for a smooth transition and long-lasting impacts. Sensei Cloud from Sensei, the practice and patient management brand of Carestream Dental, offers a range of key insights including practice performance and finances in real-time dashboards, with only the relevant information shown. Sensei Cloud also streamlines patient management, allowing professionals to track and claim UDAs in a timely fashion from across multiple practice sites.
Going digital with a practice management software can be a big jump for a practice, but ultimately may be necessary with the changing times. To take full advantage of the ability to monitor your practice’s activity from a screen, it’s important to find the right solution for you.
References available on request.
For more information visit https://gosensei.co.uk/